


Find Some Peace

by SmoakingGreenArrow



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, OLICITY BABIES, OTA, OTA and their BABIES, Time Travel, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-01-23 17:39:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18554599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoakingGreenArrow/pseuds/SmoakingGreenArrow
Summary: In Star City 2040, William recognizes that something about the future feels off. Believing that things can't get worse than a world without superheroes (or their parents being together), William and Mia travel back in time to find answers.





	1. But Still Dangerous

"I never should have agreed to his," Mia crossed her arms as she walked beside her brother. "I should have let you come here alone."

"Aw," William nudged her as they hurried down the street. "But you said I'd die if I came alone."

Mia couldn't take her eyes off of the buildings, the city, the vague familiarity of it yet the completely foreign feeling. It was Star City, but it wasn't.

The streets were clean, bathed in sunlight, and welcoming.

It was almost disorienting, seeing it so differently than what she knew. "Where are we?" Mia breathed, staring up at a pristine, sleek building that read _Queen Consolidated_.

"More like _when,_ " William teased, leading her into an alley. 

Giving him a sharp glare, Mia trailed along. "Fine. _When_ are we?"

William hummed, all too happy with the little adventure. But Mia knew better. She'd grown up with bedtime stories about speedsters and time travelers, and she understood that although it was possible, it was never a good idea. Still, her options had been limited. It was either come with William or he'd go alone. If only she'd thought of 'Option C' sooner; punch your brother in the face and knock him out before he did something reckless and stupid.

"October of 2014," William answered her question. And Mia's eyes widened, looking at the alley with new eyes. 

Before she had a chance to ask more questions like _why_ and _for what_ , William shoved her against the wall. "Hey!" Mia protested, not expecting the rough push as her back slammed against the bricks. She lunged forward, ready to fight if her brother really wanted to go there. But the next thing she knew, William was crouched down behind a dumpster. He frantically yanked on her arm, pulling her to hide, too.

Rolling her eyes, Mia obliged. "What's so scary about October 2014?" She asked.

"Not scary," William whispered back. "But still dangerous."

Mia opened her mouth to ask, but William slapped her arm, shushing her. 

A moment later, Mia understood. 

Coming down the alley, right towards them...were two people that took her breath away.

Naturally, she recognized both of them. Yet her eyes couldn't help but focus on Oliver. 

He looked so much younger than any of the photos her mother kept around the house. And he looked more at ease, his eyes brighter than in that vigilante documentary Mia had found. Unable to blink, she stared at her father, watching as he ran to catch up to a beautiful blonde who Mia couldn't look at yet.

"Hey...hey!" Oliver jogged right by them, his eyes focused on the blonde ponytail ahead. "How was work?"

At the sound of his voice, Mia let out a sharp breath, feeling William's hand on her shoulder, squeezing it in silent support.

She hadn't even noticed the tears threatening her eyes until they blurred her vision. But still, she couldn't blink, her eyes finally shifting to her mother.

Her mother who looked gorgeous in a dress and high heels, her hair swinging and glowing in the setting sun. And there was something about her that seemed so odd to Mia. A brightness on her face that Mia couldn't stop staring at, even taking the attention away from her dad. Felicity walked with the same energy and confidence that she spoke with.

Mia smiled when she heard Felicity answer, babbling about her job that was a soul crushing exercise in misery that offered health and dental. At least that hadn't changed.

She could feel William's eyes on the side of her face, but it was impossible to look away from her parents. Especially when her father stopped her mother, calming all of that wonderful liveliness with one simple question. "Felicity...would you like to go to dinner with me?"

A breathy laugh escaped Mia's throat, goosebumps covering her arms as tears fell down her cheeks, the pieces finally coming together. She knew this story...

Felicity and Oliver each stumbled their way to the same agreement. The same conclusion. A date.

While they headed inside, Mia sat frozen on the ground. Her eyes remained on the door where they'd disappeared into some club called Verdant, their voices stopping when the door finally closed behind them. William gave her a moment, and she could feel his eyes on her face. "You okay?" He had to break the silence, or else Mia would've sat there all day until they came back.

Blinking, Mia shook her head, trying to clear it. But she needed a moment to process. 

She'd been too young to really remember seeing her parents together and happy. Oliver was gone before she truly got to know him, but in the bits and pieces she could remember, she knew him to be so patient and soft-spoken. And in Felicity's stories...he was wonderful. Her mother had plenty of stories; most of them painted Oliver in a heroic, selfless, and huge-hearted light.

The rest...the day he'd left and never come back...Mia had blocked from her mind a long time ago.

Letting out a long breath, she closed her eyes. 

Hearing about him and seeing him in person were two completely different things, though. There was a part of Mia that had always held onto a silent hope that she might get to see Oliver again someday. And there was another part of her that was prepared for that to never happen.

Either way, traveling back in time and creeping on a younger version of her father as he asked out a younger version of her mother... _that_ was never how she imagined it.

In that one moment, Mia could understand. She could see why her mother fell in love with him, why she'd never given up on him, and why she still held on to him so tightly after all those years.

It all seemed so clear. So simple. It was no wonder why Felicity had never been able to settle for anything else. Her father had been the love of her life, and something _else_ would always be something _less_.

It was 2014. 

Yet Oliver had the same look in his eyes, asking her on their first date, that Mia recognized from a lot of pictures she'd seen of her parents. Mia had a feeling that Oliver had always looked at Felicity that way. He'd loved her completely.

Although Mia had always known how much of a toll his absence took on her mother, she finally started to _feel_ it. Her heart ached, and all she really wanted to do was go back to the moments when she'd gotten angry growing up. When she'd blamed Felicity. When she'd lashed out at her and couldn't see how much pain Felicity was in. She wanted to go back to those moments and fix them. And she really wanted to hug her mom.

"Mia..." William rubbed her back, "we have to get out of here."

 _One more minute..._ Mia wanted to beg. _What if they come back?_

Snapping out of it, Mia glanced up at her brother, wiping the tears that covered her face. No one besides Felicity and her Aunt Nyssa had ever seen her cry. She sniffled, straightening her shoulders and nodding. Then she pushed to her feet, trying to shake off the weight of what she'd just seen.

"Where are we going?"

"Queen Consolidated," William smiled, his eyes warm as his hand dropped from her shoulder. "We have a few things we need to steal from Grandma Moira."

"Grandma—" Mia's face dropped, her eyes widening as she spun around to gape at him. "William. No!"

"William." His tone taunted hers, "yes!" He patted his hand over the top of her head, his grin widening before he headed off down the street, the giant looming 'Q' in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think :)


	2. Definitely Not Acting Normal

"Act normal," William insisted, shaking her a bit.

Looking up at him with wide eyes, the reality of their time traveling adventure finally settling over her, Mia nodded. "Yeah," she breathed. "Normal."

They could hear footsteps above their heads, and William groaned as he assessed his sister, who looked like she’d just seen a ghost. Or the ghosts of her parents’ younger selves.

The door opened, and the footsteps grew louder, and they both looked up to see Connor jogging down the steps to their little basement bunker. 

He nodded to William in greeting, but when he looked at Mia, he stopped. "Hey," Connor frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm," Mia swallowed, giving him an unconvincing smile.

Connor took a step closer, his eyes narrowing as they shifted from Mia to William. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," William smiled, his Queen charm coming out in full swing. He patted his sister on the back, trying to snap her out of the minor time traveling mental crises she was in. "All good here."

Glancing down at Mia, Connor cocked his head to the side. "You look a little pale," he mumbled, his hand coming up to her face, his thumb brushing over her cheek.

Mia was sure she probably looked more than a little pale. She'd just traveled back in time, seen younger versions of her parents, and broken into her dead grandmother's company to help her brother steal files with information about something called the Ninth Circle. "Pretty normal Wednesday," she squeaked, looking up at Connor with wide eyes.

Mia didn't have it in her to shove Connor’s hand away like she had so many times before, so his hand remained. He stared down at her, his thumb continuing to roam over her skin, touching just below her eye where she was sure there were big, dark, ugly circles. But he didn't look at her like she had big, dark, ugly, circles on her face.

Mia sighed, leaning her cheek into Connor's hand a little more, and he raised his eyebrows. 

It was probably due to the unreal reality of seeing her parents agree to their first date, but her walls were down. Like, all the way down. And she liked how gentle and warm Connor’s hand felt. She also liked the concern on his face, the attentive and anchoring emotion behind his warm brown eyes. Keeping her walls up around Connor had always been a struggle, and she was far too tired to fight it anymore.

"Mia..." he whispered her name, his fingers sliding towards her hair, his hand moving to cup her cheek. She couldn’t stop herself from leaning into it, and her eyes instinctively slipped shut.

"There you guys are."

At the sound of Felicity's voice, Mia jolted back from Connor, but she could tell with one look at her mother...she'd noticed. 

"Where have you two been?" Felicity asked, her suspicious eyes glancing from Mia to William, waiting for an answer.

Staring at her, Mia couldn't help but compare her to the woman she'd seen on the street. Somehow, her mother looked smaller now. She didn't walk or speak with the same bubbling happiness Mia had witnessed in 2014.

There was a sadness in her that Mia had always noticed, but never wanted to acknowledge.

Because before, there had been nothing she could do to change it. Nothing she could do to bring back the light in her mom's eyes that Mia hadn't realized was missing until she saw the younger Felicity in that alley. Before, there was nothing she could do to _fix_ things. But now...

Instead of answering, Mia moved from her stool, her feet carrying her across the room until she was in her mom's arms.

Although surprised, Felicity returned the hug immediately. She hugged her daughter tight, resting her cheek against Mia's hair. "Oh," Felicity inhaled, rubbing her hand down Mia's back, smoothing her hair. "What's this for?" 

Across the room, William grumbled under his breath, "definitely not acting normal." Which was fair. Mia wasn't one for the touchy-feely stuff. The vulnerability had clearly thrown Connor off. Even her own mother was surprised by it. Realizing how strange her behavior was, and how it could lead Felicity and Connor to ask questions that she didn't want to answer, Mia pulled back, clearing her throat.

She straightened her shoulders and composed herself. Her eyebrows pushed together in their typical scowl, and when a ghost of a smile passed Felicity's lips, like she was recognizing it, Mia knew that Felicity was thinking about Oliver. She'd always said that the expression was given to her, straight from her father's face to her own.

Smoothing her features, trying to avoid it, Mia turned away. And Felicity let her off the hook, shifting her attention to Connor. "How is it going? Did you find it?"

"Yeah," Connor reached into his pocket, pulling out a device and setting it on the table next to the helmet Felicity had been working on.

"What's that?" William asked.

Connor clapped a hand over his shoulder, gesturing for him to sit down in the chair. " _This_ is what's going to help us use this helmet to find the rest of those goons that killed the Canaries."

Taking a seat beside William, Felicity got back to the helmet, taking the pieces apart to show him. "I'm glad you came back," she said, nudging her shoulder against his. "I could really use your help with this." Then her eyes snapped up to Mia and Connor, and she cringed. "Not that you two haven't been super helpful!"

Mia rolled her eyes while Connor chuckled.

And they all settled in, getting to work. Once Felicity and William really started going, Mia and Connor could hardly keep up with all the fast-paced tech talk, but they did their best to give them what they needed in order to find answers. Still, Mia had a hard time focusing on the current issue, dead Canaries and evil organizations, when her brother was time traveling.

Throughout the day, she kept glancing at William, surprised at how well he compartmentalized the whole thing. How well he hid the huge, mind-blowing secret that he'd found a way to travel through time.

By the time the sun went down and the bunker grew dark, they were all exhausted and burnt out. 

"I'm craving Chinese food," William set the helmet down, shrugging when they all turned to look at him. "Is that place on Sixth still open?"

"Surprisingly...it is," Felicity sighed, getting up from her chair and stretching.

"Want to order in?" Connor spoke up. "We can head back to my place...probably a better bet than getting takeout delivered to an Arrow Cave."

Felicity laughed, shaking her head. "I did that once," she made a face, scrunching her nose. "I was pregnant with Mia...and clearly not thinking very clearly. I was also starving." Her fingers tapped along the table as she glanced at William and Mia, her eyebrows raising. "Oliver was _not_ pleased when a delivery guy showed up to the Arrow Cave. He had to pay him off."

Years ago, probably more due to Mia's chagrin than anything else, Felicity had stopped talking about Oliver. Of course, she still mentioned him, but not as frequently as she once had, when she realized that Mia didn't exactly enjoy the painful reminders. 

Yet, Mia had never really considered what talking about Oliver did for _Felicity_. 

Now, hearing the little story, it made Mia smile.

Looking at her mom, she tried to connect the girl from 2014 with the person standing in front of her. And tears threatened her eyes again, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she thought... _it shouldn't be this hard. She never deserved this._

"Honey," Felicity cocked her head to the side, "are you all right?"

William tossed an arm over Mia's shoulders, "she's fine," he rushed. "Totally fine. I think she just needs some fresh air." He tugged gently, leading her towards the steps. "Don't worry about dinner, we'll go for a little walk. Bring dinner back here."

"Okay..." Felicity stared after them, concern etching her features. "Hurry back."

Of course, they didn't hurry. 

The moment they were outside, William placed his hands on Mia's shoulders, turning her to face him. "Look...I know this is crazy. But I need you to get your head on straight, okay? Felicity can't know what we're doing. She'll have us stranded on Lian Yu before she lets us screw with the timeline."

Mia's eyes snapped up to her brother, shoving his arms off. "What are we even doing?" She hissed. "If mom banishes us to Lian Yu, we'd deserve it. Or at least _you_ would!" 

With a snort, William rolled his eyes, "please! I'm trying to save the world! And get our dad back! She'll forgive me."

"Oh, sure!" Mia jeered back, "except for the fact that you have no real plan beyond 'stop the Ninth Circle, save the superheroes'" she mocked his voice. "You're just going to make everything worse! I should tell her what you're doing before you get someone killed!"

"I won't!" William argued. He looked offended, his mouth opening and closing as he searched for words, his face getting red.

And then, not knowing what to say, he raised his hand and flicked her nose.

Mia froze, blinking up at him in stunned silence. William's face held the same surprise at his own actions.

"Did you just...flick me?"

"You were being annoying," he accused.

She stared at William incredulously, "what is wrong with you? Are you twelve?" She lunged forward, winding up to swat at the side of his head in retaliation.

"Okay!" A voice interrupted from behind them, before Mia could get her revenge. They both jumped at the sharp tone in the dark alley. And William had to cough to hide the yelp that escaped his throat. He ducked behind Mia for protection, and she rolled her eyes, shoving him off of her. 

Slowly, Connor came out from a darkened corner, crossing his arms as he approached them. With raised eyebrows, he looked more like a disapproving father than the man Mia had been sleeping with. 

"Clearly finding your long lost secret sibling has made both of you think you need to make up for the lost time," his eyes shifted between them. "Someone care to explain to me what the hell is going on?"

When neither of them answered, Connor narrowed his eyes, focusing on William since he knew that trying to intimidate Mia into an answer would be a waste of time. "Speak," he demanded, leveling William with a no-nonsense look. 

"In 2019, a group came to Star City known as the Ninth Circle," her brother sighed, giving in. "Their leader was a woman named Emiko Queen..."

Mia's head snapped up to look at him, _"what?"_  

"She was Oliver’s half sister. The Ninth Circle are the ones responsible for all the superheroes disappearing. Multiple earths, a whole war...and then they all vanished. The Ninth Circle had something to do with it. But at this point...it's impossible to find any evidence. Not without more information...which isn't exactly accessible in 2040..."

Connor sucked in a breath, putting together William's explanation with their bickering he'd heard. "You went back in time."

"We did." William explained, "I needed proof that the Ninth Circle existed and operated in Starling City back then. My grandmother...had connections. These people are also the ones who sunk the Queen's Gambit our dad was on. They were practically invisible back then, so it's _impossible_ to track them now, especially since Emiko’s death. I knew I could find a lead on them if I got into Queen Consolidated in 2014."

Shaking her head, Mia looked up at her brother, "our dad had an evil sister that no one told me about? We had an evil aunt?"

William shrugged, "sorry, no solace here. I was _there_ when Emiko Queen showed up, and Oliver and Felicity didn't even tell me. By the time you were born, she was gone."

"Still..." Mia pouted, crossing her arms. 

Closing his eyes, Connor looked like he was calling on some inner patience. "You can't just screw with the past," he said harshly. "It's not a game."

"I told him that," Mia defended herself. "He wouldn't listen, so I had no choice but to go with him. Trust me, I've heard the stories about Barry Allen and the colossal mess speedsters make when they try to change things—"

"Don't!" Connor's voice was lower, darker than Mia had ever heard it. And his eyes reflected the same. It rendered her speechless. 

Seeing that he'd surprised her, Connor closed his eyes again, his hands clenching into fists as he tried to get himself under control. "I'm sorry," he finally whispered. "That name...we don't really talk about _Barry_ in my family."

"Why not?" Mia couldn't help but ask.

Conner sighed, "my brother JJ...he wasn't originally uh—himself, in a way. And when JJ found out that secret...it kind of set his whole course into motion. There were a lot of things me and my parents could have done differently, and no one is to blame for JJ’s choices more than JJ...but Barry Allen made some selfish choices too, and they changed my brother’s life. He had a hard time coping with it."

Shaking his head and letting out another sigh, Connor looked down at Mia. "Look, it's complicated. But trust me...going back in time, even when your intentions are innocent, never does anyone any good. You might fix _your_ family...but you could damn another one. That's exactly what Barry did...and from where I'm standing, he was no hero."

Mia swallowed, nodding in silent agreement. She knew that. Her mother raised her to be aware, ready, and knowledgeable when it came to time travel. Mia had never questioned the danger of it. "You're right," she whispered, glancing at William. She also knew that her brother wouldn't be so easy to convince. He'd put a lot of work into finding Oliver again. And she wasn’t sure there was anything they could say to change his mind on the subject.

William and Connor stared at each other for a long moment. They each had reasons to feel the way they did. Both personal and emotional reasons, but valid.

"What if this place," William mumbled, his eyes trailing to the battered city, "isn't right to begin with? What if people like the Ninth Circle already interfered with the timeline and screwed it up...what if this _already_ isn't how the world is supposed to be?"

Feeling a shiver, Mia mulled over his words.

Of course, they could play that 'what if' game all night. But maybe William had a point... It wasn't something she'd ever considered. Why would she? Her life had always been...her life. But for William, someone who had seen the full impact their parents made, who knew the world before and after the superheroes disappeared...it made sense why he could think this way.

"That's a lot of assumptions," Connor finally grumbled back. "And a huge risk to take."

"Yeah..." William shrugged, "but what if I'm right, and the Ninth Circle is the only reason the world looks like this?"

Connor sighed, shaking his head as if he was ready to argue, but William stopped him.

"What if I can show you proof?"

 


	3. Team Arrow's Offspring

"Why are we here?" Mia asked, pushing through the dense, wet forest. She recognized it as soon as they'd arrived. Not each individual tree and rock, but the air. The scenery.

William and Connor followed behind her, letting her lead the way.

After growing up in that place, she didn't need to know each tree or rock. Her feet knew just where to go. 

"You said you needed to see proof that the Ninth Circle had something to do with our dad's disappearance," William mumbled from behind her. "This is where the proof is."

Mia looked over her shoulder, giving him a hard glare. " _When_ are we?"

"May 2022," he sighed.

Instantly, Mia's feet stalled, slipping in the leaves until Connor grabbed her arm to steady her. She spun, wheeling around on her brother.

"May 2022?" Mia sucked in a sharp breath. Pursing his lips, William simply nodded. Blinking at him in shock, Mia glanced at the woods, suddenly knowing exactly which day her brother had brought them back to. And it instantly brought more tears to her eyes. “Why?"

William met her eyes evenly, stepping closer as rain dripped from the canopy of trees above their heads. "You need to _see_ it, Mia. If we want answers, we need to know exactly what happened. Not Felicity's version...the truth."

"My mom wouldn't lie about this day."

In response, William nodded in agreement. "I'm not saying she lied. I'm saying there's _her_ truth, and then there's the things she probably missed. It's not Felicity's fault...but we need to know how this all really went down. So...let's go, okay?"

When Mia clenched her jaw and shook her head, Connor finally intervened. "All right," he said, tightening his hand that was still on Mia's arm. "Where are we and what it is that you need us to see, William?"

"This is the day my father was taken,” Mia answered breathlessly, staring at William with nothing but betrayal. "Isn't it?"

The gray sky and whipping wind seemed more familiar than they should. More ominous. There wasn't much about this day that she could remember, but the  _cold_ was one thing that stuck with her.

"Come on," William stepped around her, ignoring the question since she already knew the answer. 

Silently, Mia shuffled along, walking slower than before. Dread set knots in her stomach, and she was pretty sure that Connor's hand, resting on the small of her back, urging her feet forward, was the only thing keeping her from running far, far away.

When the house came into view, William ducked down behind some bushes, finding a spot close to the yard.

"You know," he whispered, sitting down on the wet ground. "Our parents used to call themselves ‘Original Team Arrow.’” He frowned, pulling some twigs from the bush so he could see better. "Well, Felicity called them that. Still, it's kind of strange that the three of us came together."

"'Strange' is not the word I'd use to describe how I feel right now," Mia breathed back, crossing her arms to fight off a chill. Nauseous was more like it.

"If they were the originals, what does that make us?" Connor asked, sitting beside William. Gently, he took Mia's hand, pulling her down to sit on the other side of him. "New Team Arrow?"

"Gross," William scrunched up his nose. "No. I've already thought about this," he rolled his eyes. Connor and Mia shared a look. "They were OTA, we're TAO."

In her heart, Mia understood what William was doing; trying to lighten the mood, distract her while they waited to relive her childhood trauma. This was, after all, the hardest day of her life. So damaging, apparently, that she couldn't even remember all of it... And here was her very own brother, dragging her back in time to go through it all over again.

"TAO?" She sighed, leaning into Connor. He wrapped his arm around her, and for now, Mia didn't care about lies, secrets, or who he really was. He was there. And he was holding her together.

"Team Arrow's Offspring," William supplied.

"You're so dumb," Mia quipped back, rolling her eyes. Connor was a little nicer, sparing William a chuckle under his breath.

Her eyes tracked over the forest as they settled into silence. Everything she could see, from the green leaves above her head to the damp dirt below her, she paid attention to. "Now what?"

William leaned around Connor, meeting her eyes. And Mia also understood the apology in them. "Now we wait."

For over an hour, they sat. Connor did his best to keep her warm while William did his best to keep her distracted. Still, just as the rain was beginning to get heavier, Mia saw the familiar red cape that sometimes still appeared in her dreams. And her eyes flickered to one of the windows of the little cabin, realizing in that moment...her younger self was just behind the glass, watching the man approach her home.

As he knocked on the front door, Mia scrambled to her knees, crawling towards the bushes so she could hear better. 

And when the Monitor's head tilted towards them, his nose lifting in their direction, Connor grabbed her arm and yanked her back down, out of sight.

A moment later, the door opened, and Oliver appeared in the thresh hold. This was the version of him that Mia knew, both from photographs and her vague memories.

Upon sight, Oliver recognize the visitor, and his face crumbled. His eyes watered instantly, but he lifted his chin in defiance. "No..."

"It's time, Oliver."

"Wait," he raised his hands defensively. "I haven't...I—I need more time."

At his pleading, the Monitor just smiled. "You had that. Now it's time for me to collect on our deal." He leaned a little closer, "keep your promise with honor, Mr. Queen. I want nothing more than to do this civilly."

"Please.." Oliver breathed. "I’m not ready. I have a wife. I have a daughter. And I haven't explained...they won't understand. I didn’t think it would be this soon.”

"Your daughter is three now, yes?" The Monitor waited as Oliver swallowed, nodding his head while his face grew pale. "I've given you as much time as I could, Oliver...but now you must say goodbye."

Oliver's face grew even more pale, his hands beginning to shake. And Mia could feel something cold run through her with the hollow look that entered his eyes. "Just...just a little more," he begged, a tear falling freely down his cheek. “A little more time, please...I need to explain...”

The Monitor stepped back, nodding in permission, and Oliver moved back inside the house, his eyes wide until the door had shut. 

"Okay," William whispered lowly, blinking through the rain. "We need to keep eyes on the Monitor. My research leads me to believe that this Monitor character might've met with someone from the Ninth Circle on this day. We need to find out where he brought my dad, then we need to follow him. Which might be difficult...considering multiple earths and god-like powers and all that...plus, we can't be seen, of course, or else we might alter the entire fabric of the universe..." William huffed, "no big deal. We got this. TAO for the win."

Unfortunately, Mia didn't get to hear William's pep talk. 

By the time her father had shut the door, she was moving. And by the time William was done babbling, she was already rounding the cabin, tiptoeing to the back door.

"Mia!" Connor hissed, lunging towards her, but William grabbed him. 

Out of sight of the Monitor, positioned at the back of the house while he waited in the front for Oliver, Mia glanced over her shoulder. She nodded once to Connor and William, silently telling them to stay put. And then, skillfully and carefully, she broke into her own house.

Since she'd lived this day once before, she knew that there was a tiny version of herself just around the corner, coloring on the floor in front of the couch. She also knew that after her dad had come inside, he'd walked straight down the hall to talk to her mom.

Mia snuck through the house, avoiding the spots in the hardwood that she knew would creak and give her away. As she got closer to her parents' room, Mia could hear Oliver and Felicity's hushed voices behind the door, left open just a crack.

Pressing her back against the wall, Mia closed her eyes and listened as Oliver rushed to explain himself to his wife, to tell Felicity about the decision he'd kept from her for three years, unfairly forcing her to be okay with it and to say goodbye all at once.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me _again_ ," Felicity gasped, her voice shaking with each word.

"Felicity," Oliver sighed, "I'm so, so, _so_ sorry. I always thought—or I guess I hoped...that we would be old and gray before this day came."

"You lied to me," she sobbed back. " _Again_ , Oliver. After you had just gotten done apologizing for Slabside, you turned around and did the same exact thing! Losing you was hell...and here we are, in the same position. You made the same choice, the same _sacrifice_ , all over again."

There was a long, tense silence between them, and then Oliver's voice answered, quieter than before, "all I've ever wanted to do is protect you. I know I failed you in too many ways, Felicity. But I've loved you in just as many. More than I've ever loved anyone. Please... _please_ don't ever forget that."

Behind the door, Mia wiped at the tears on her cheeks, peeking through the gap in the door in time to see Felicity walking into Oliver's embrace. Her mother's face twisted with a sob as she buried it in her father's chest. His arms wrapped around her, his lips kissing her hair as he mumbled over and over, "I love you. I love you, Felicity. I love you so much."

Felicity's shaking fingers clung to the shirt on Oliver's back, her knuckles white as if she thought that if she held on tight enough, she might be able to keep him.

But Mia knew how this story would end.

And when Oliver ran his hands over the sides of Felicity's cheeks, leaning in to kiss her, Mia forced her eyes to stay open despite the burning tears in her eyes. She forced her voice to stay silent despite the burning pain in her throat. 

"Oliver..." Felicity whispered as their lips parted, her eyes wet with her own sadness. "Please don’t go. I’m so tired of saying goodbye to you.”

For the briefest moment, his lip twitched, some kind of memory passing between them, a smile that he couldn't even force. "I don’t want to go, baby. I don’t."

Felicity hesitated. "It’s going to be forever this time...isn't it? You’re not coming back,” even as she whimpered, it was clear that she knew. That she could feel the finality in the moment.

Oliver choked back a sob, his eyes squeezing shut. " _Fel-i-ci-ty,_ " he breathed her name, the word coming out of his mouth more like a sigh. A plea. A prayer. "I'm begging you...don't think like that."

Pursing her lips, Felicity stepped closer, her arms winding around his neck. She pressed her forehead against Oliver's, closing her eyes. And they shared a strained, desperate breath.

"Daddy!" A little voice interrupted, and Mia quickly jumped back from the door, her heart pounding in her chest when Felicity's head snapped towards the door, almost catching sight of her.

Knowing what came next, Mia quickly ducked into the bathroom, hiding in the dark as Oliver and Felicity came out of the bedroom, her younger self's voice beckoning them away. "Daddy," she called again, "who that guy outside? He look scary."

"He's not scary, honey," Oliver's voice soothed, farther away now.

Mia peeked her head out of the bathroom, stepping towards the backdoor. She knew she had to go, or else she'd get stuck in the house when Felicity inevitably carried a hysterically screaming toddler down the hall and into the little girl's room at the end of the hall.

Her feet faltering, Mia shuffled to the door, trying to focus as she listened to her father in the next room, on his knees in front of a little girl who was too young and too busy coloring to understand what was happening. "Mia," his voice carried through the house, "daddy has to go away now..."

"Go where?" Her own little voice echoed, sounding disappointed.

She pushed through the backdoor, gasping in the misty air as soon as she was outside, feeling like she hadn't taken a breath since she entered the cabin. And on shaky legs, Mia hurried back around the house, making a wide circle to avoid being seen by the Monitor.

When she reached Connor and William again, Mia barely felt any better. Her whole body was shaking, and it had nothing to do with the cold rain.

Connor sighed in relief as she dropped down between the boys. "Jesus Christ, Mia, what were you thinking?” Instinctively, Connor's arms wrapped around her, holding her close as if she might try to run again.

”It’s about to get worse,” she mumbled back.

William's hand landed on her shoulder, anchoring her in silent comfort between the two of them.

Her eyes remained on the door until it opened and Oliver came outside again. The Monitor gestured towards the road, reminding him that they needed to go.

In response, Oliver nodded, his head hanging as he followed after the unwelcome guest.

William noticed Felicity first. He sucked in a sharp breath, making Connor and Mia’s heads snap in the same direction. And the three of them stared with wide eyes as Felicity pushed through the front door.

"Wait!" Felicity yelped, and Oliver spun around on the porch, his arms instinctively reaching for her, to hold her back. But Felicity nudged against him, leaning around his shoulder until she could see the Monitor. “Don’t!”

"Hey," Oliver held her tighter, keeping her back as she tried to get closer to the strange man. "Felicity. Hey, hey, honey, stop. You need to get back inside. Please—"

"I want to talk to you," Felicity interrupted Oliver, pushing him away until she managed to take a couple steps closer to the Monitor. Oliver let go of her waist, but he hovered. 

"Felicity," he pleaded with her, “please go back inside."

She kept her teary eyes on the Monitor, "take me instead," Felicity breathed, raising her chin bravely.

Beside her, Oliver froze.

In the bushes, Mia, William, and Connor froze.

Even the Monitor stopped to look at her, his head cocking to the side with interest.

"You would sacrifice yourself to save your husband?" The man asked, curiosity in his tone.

Felicity took a step closer, shoving Oliver’s hand away when he tried to stop her again. She answered 'yes,' at the same time that Oliver growled a hard 'no.'

"Why?" The Monitor pressed, focusing on Felicity with intrigue. "In my experience, not even love is strong enough to inspire self-sacrifice. Humans have an innate sense to save themselves above all else."

Considering the question for a moment, Felicity looked up at Oliver, then her shoulders lifted in an exhausted shrug, her face draining of whatever anger she'd been wielding. "My husband has lost enough.” Felicity whispered. “Oliver has already missed the chance to raise his son. I can't stand the thought of him being unable to see our daughter grow up, too. I thought you prided yourself on being fair. This is what's fair. Oliver has made his sacrifices. He's given up half his life for others..." She looked back at the Monitor, nodding once. “It's time I do the same for him."

"No, it's not." Oliver heaved, blinking in stunned silence. Then he shook his head, stepping in front of Felicity. He put his hands on her waist, walking her backwards, away from the Monitor. "Felicity, I love you, and I can't even describe how sorry I am. But that...is not happening."

"Let me," Felicity stared up at him, her eyes so sure of her decision, so ready to follow through. "Let me do this."

In return, Oliver's eyes held just as much conviction. "No."

And Mia stopped breathing.

She had no idea her mother had even tried...

"I admire your heroism, Ms. Smoak." The Monitor interrupted them. "Your husband's selflessness, the peace he had in sacrifice, is what caught my attention about him. It is clear to me that this is something his soul shares with yours...but I cannot accept your offer. My agreement was with Oliver, and so long as he is unwilling to trade his place for yours, then I am the same."

"Oliver..." Felicity's voice was weak, her shoulders slumping. “I need to...you deserve to be a father. Mia needs you.”

Forcing a smile, Oliver brushed her hair back, "I would do almost anything for you, Felicity Smoak.” He shook his head, "but not that. I can't."

"I don't want to do this without you," she strained, gripping his hands where they cupped her face. "Please, Oliver, I'm afraid...I don't even know—what can I do? There has to be another way."

Behind the bushes, Mia's eyes burned through tears, rain, and a refusal to take her eyes off her parents' last moment together. She watched as her father had to calm down her mother, soothing her out of a panic attack. Holding her, Oliver promised that everything would be okay, that he would find a way back to her, even though he didn't look like he believed it. But they were words that Felicity needed, something she needed to hold on to and hope for. 

Felicity was the strongest person that Mia had ever known. Seeing her mom like that, looking like without Oliver's words, her legs might give out from under her, like her body might quit on her if not for his empty promises...it was the first time Mia had ever felt her heart break. There was a desperation in Felicity that captivated Mia, a vulnerable, pained side of her mother that would shut down by the time the rain above their heads would clear.

After a while, the Monitor had to step in, telling Oliver that it was getting late and they needed to go. And it was still another ten minutes before Felicity could bear to let go of her husband. Eventually, they parted, and Oliver reluctantly backed away, his eyes still on Felicity as he followed the Monitor down the steps and towards the dirt road.

Only then, when Oliver was halfway down the driveway and Felicity was gripping the railing on the porch to keep herself upright...only then did the front door swing open, crashing against the side of the house. The sound of a little girl's cries rang through the wooded area, piercing the eerie silence of an impossible goodbye. And Felicity was too surprised, or too deep in her already sinking grief, to react quick enough.

A three year old Mia bolted from the house, her little legs moving faster than they ever had before.

From her hiding place in the forest, Mia whimpered, unable to take her eyes off of her innocent, younger self. The girl raced down the driveway, screaming for him. And at her voice, Oliver spun around, dropping to his knees on the soaking ground just in time to catch her. His face broke in pain as she crashed into his arms.

Mia couldn't quite remember the moment she ran out of the cabin after him, but she remembered how she felt that day, sitting inside the house and watching her dad and the strange man walk away. She could still remember the ache in her chest.

Somewhere deep down, she'd known that once her father was gone, he wouldn't come back.

"Hey," Oliver mumbled in her ear, his arms holding her close, protecting her from the rain and the view of the Monitor at the same time. "You need to back to the house, Mia. Okay?"

"When you coming home?" The little girl asked, her voice rising with instinctive panic.

"Soon," he breathed back, and everyone except for little Mia knew that it was a lie. With tears in his eyes, Oliver let out a pained noise. He kissed her forehead before looking down at her, forcing a smile. "I'll see you soon, baby."

"Daddy," she cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows furrowing. Her hands lifted to cup his cheeks. "Why you cry?"

"I just love you a whole lot, kiddo." He answered, nestling his nose against hers. And then he pulled back, standing up and bringing the girl up with him.

Holding her on his hip, Oliver looked up at Felicity through the rain, and he nodded once. A silent agreement and a silent goodbye.

Then he kissed Mia's cheek, "go give mommy a big hug for me, okay?"

"Mia will give mommy all the hugs until you get back, daddy."

Closing his eyes, Oliver nodded. "That sounds like a great plan." He let out a long, slow breath. "I love you and mommy so much, Mia."

"We love you more, daddy."

Watching the scene, Mia felt William and Connor both holding on to her, stopping her instinct to lean closer, too absorbed to worry about being seen. Oliver's response was something he'd said to her often when she was young, and from her hiding place, Mia breathed the words with him as he answered. "Not possible."

When Oliver set the girl on her feet again, she ran back to the house, waving to him over her shoulder.

Felicity leaned down as her daughter climbed the steps, scooping her up easily. And then, seeing his family together and safe where they stood on the porch, Oliver turned away, trailing behind the Monitor.

"We have to follow them," William mumbled, watching as Oliver and the Monitor got farther away.

"Wait, just a few more seconds..." Mia wasn't watching her dad. Her eyes were on her mom. On herself.

In Felicity's arms, the little girl seemed to realize, despite her age and despite her father's promises, that something was very wrong.

"Mommy," her voice raised in panic, sensing something. "Wait, where daddy going?" She sounded so confused and frustrated. "Why you sad, mommy? Why daddy sad?" When Felicity couldn't form an answer, it only upset the girl even more. And she was straining to get back to Oliver, fighting against Felicity's arms to get down so she could chase after him again. 

Before Oliver was out of sight, Felicity had to carry Mia inside, trying to keep herself together and calm the toddler down at the same time.

"Now," Mia whispered, her younger self's screams and cries still heard even after the door had closed behind Felicity.

With the coast clear, Mia, William and Connor began to creep through the forest. "Keep up," she grumbled to the boys, standing to push through the bushes.

They trailed the Monitor slowly, making sure that they remained far enough behind them that they wouldn't be seen, but close enough that they wouldn't lose their tail. 

Nyssa had trained her well, and Mia kept a solid path on Oliver for at least three miles, knowing how to track him undetected.

But after an hour or so, she lost them.

"No," Mia whispered, all of them completely drenched with rain now. "No, they were just here," her heart sank into her stomach. She moved out into the open, looking around the greenery as the sky grew darker. "These footprints are still fresh," she explained to William and Connor, who followed close behind her, their own eyes scanning the trees for Oliver or that damned red cape. "They couldn't have been here more than five minutes ago!" Mia hissed, "where could they have gone?"

"We have to split up," William worried, frantically spinning as he looked around the woods. "If we lose Oliver now, we might never know where he was taken." 

"No, William, we can't split up. You don't even know how to—" before she could argue, William was running, seeming to pick a random direction and charge. "William!" Mia called, running after him, knowing that splitting up was a terrible idea. Not only because they could end up stuck in 2022 if they lost each other, but also because her brother was useless at tracking and navigating that forest.

As she chased him, Connor followed, too. "William, stop!"

It was nearly nightfall. Between dusk settling over the trees and the rain, it was harder to see. Yet William ran full force, ignoring Mia and Connor as his eyes searched for his dad.

"Woah," William gasped, suddenly skidding to a stop and nearly knocking Mia down when she collided against his back.

Ahead of them, they could see the Monitor's cape again, which thankfully stood out like a sore thumb among all the green. 

Except he was on the ground.

A few paces ahead of them, the Monitor was knocked out, on his back with his cape sprawled out.

Catching their breaths, the three of them froze, knowing that they were too close, too exposed, too at risk of being seen. So they all dropped to the ground, having the same thought. Their eyes landed on Oliver, who was panting from where he stood above the Monitor.

Without warning, Oliver's head turned in their direction, his eyes finding them as if he'd known they were behind him the entire time. With a heavy breath and his eyes alert, Oliver's gaze focused on their figures.

"Oh my god," Mia gasped as Oliver began to move, wheeling right towards them.

It wasn't like they could just run. Or hide. They were caught.

Mia pushed herself up from the ground, holding her breath. She shook off William's hand when he tried to pull her back down. She knew as well as William what their dad was capable of. It was too late. The Monitor was out cold and Oliver was staring right at them...their plan had already been shot to hell.

As she stood, Mia raised her chin and stared back at Oliver.

He was storming towards them, looking like he was ready to attack. But his feet faltered when he got closer, finally getting a good look at her.

Oliver stopped dead in his tracks.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening. Then his gaze dropped to William, and back up to Mia. His eyebrows furrowed, his head cocking to the side in confusion. But then, almost instantly, recognition colored his expression. Oliver shook his head, glancing between them again. "It can't be..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tiny bit inspired by an experience @allimariexf (tumblr) had while watching Arrow being filmed. Alli I hope you don't mind sharing your hiding spot with TAO? ;)  
> Also friends, full disclosure, I STILL have not watched this year's crossover. I have no idea how likely it is that the Ninth Circle has ties to the Monitor and whatever pieces I collected about the Monitor thing, but I'm guessing the chances are slim. Anyway please don't yell at me I made myself cry ok? Love you guyssss


	4. Twenty Years and Twenty Minutes

Strumming her fingers against the keyboard, Felicity thought about what she wanted to say.

Every time she did this, talked to him, it made her forget all the time that had passed. It made her nostalgic. It made her miss him. So much so that when she looked at the screen in front of her, the wrinkles on her face tended to always surprise her for a brief moment, so lost in when things were simpler. When she was younger.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity hit the recording. Then she forced a smile, telling herself that someday, Oliver would watch these. It got harder and harder to convince herself of that every time she sat down in that chair.

“Mia has a date tonight,” she sighed.

And then, just like every time before, Felicity let herself pretend. She let herself imagine that her husband was the one looking back at her rather than her own reflection.

She relaxed, allowing herself a moment to talk as if he was really there with her.

“I almost said no...when she asked me if she could go out. But then of course I realized, she wasn't actually _asking_. More like _telling_. And you know, Connor is a good man. He's good for her. You and I both know that there aren't many people who can handle our Mia.” Felicity chuckled, leaning back in the chair.

“I can’t stop wondering what you’d have to say about it,” a smile ghosted across her lips, more genuine this time. “I can just picture you telling her she’s still not allowed to date, even at eighteen. And when she eventually wins you over and gets her way, I'd have to talk you down from putting that green hood back on just to follow her. Or you'd convince me that we should _at least_ put a tracking device in her purse. And I'd roll my eyes at you...because obviously I've already installed one in her phone.”

Blinking back tears that never failed to betray her, Felicity took in a deep breath, bringing her feet up on the chair and hugging her knees. “There are so many things, Oliver...so many things I dreamed about when I found out that we were having a baby. And then...we learned that it was a girl, and we decided on her name,” she sighed, “and everything just became so much more _real_. For once, it felt like everything was falling into its rightful place. We were happy...you know?”

“I always knew you’d be an amazing father, and I couldn’t wait to see it. Three years just wasn't enough. We deserved more.” The smile on her lips felt numb, the water behind her eyes finally breaking free, but Felicity barely noticed. Her mind was somewhere else. “I dreamed about it. Everything from scraped knees, to you teaching Mia how to use a bow, to watching you dance with her on her wedding day. I wanted all of it.”

Felicity raised a shoulder, dropping it with a long, sad, still raw breath. “I’m still having a hard time making peace with this, Oliver. With the fact that we didn't get our happily ever after. That  _Mia_ doesn’t have that, doesn’t have you...”

She sat there for a long moment, staring down at her keyboard with silent tears on her cheeks. And she closed her eyes, remembering his face. Not the way it is in the photographs around the house. No, she conjured up the way she'd always seen him. In all his brooding moods, his passion, the heart that made her breathless every time she was reminded how big it was. And especially that special glint in his eyes when he looked at her.

God, she never wanted to forget _that_.

It got harder every day to remember it. To remember him that way.

Letting out a long, slow breath, Felicity opened her eyes again. "It's not fair..." she whispered, meeting her own gaze on the screen. Sometimes, it still took her by surprise how broken she looked. Almost like the wound was still fresh, rather than twenty years old. And sometimes it still was. Sometimes when it rained, her heart ached and shattered just like it did the last day she'd seen Oliver. Just as devastating and hollow. 

As Felicity stared at her reflection, she heard a car coming up the driveway. And she finally snapped out of it, pulling herself back because Mia and Connor didn't need to come home from their movie and see her like that. She closed out of the recording, taking some time to compose herself before she slipped through the false door of her little one-woman bunker and back into the house.

Oliver had installed it upon moving into the place and meant for it to be a panic room. And ever since Mia discovered it, Felicity did her best not to be shady about it. 

Coming into the kitchen, Felicity took a few deep breaths, clearing her mind.

But she stopped when she turned the corner, noticing that Connor, Mia, and William were huddle in a suspicious circle.

Their hushed voices _screamed_ that they were up to no good.

"William," Felicity interrupted, raising her eyebrows when all three of them jumped at the sound of her voice. "I didn't know you were going to the movie, too." Although it made her happy to see her kids finally spending time together, she was a little bit disappointed that Mia had apparently _not_ been out on a date. Which led her to... "what are you three up to?"

Mia glanced back at the boys with wide eyes, like she was looking for them to help. But William and Connor stared at Felicity like two deer caught in headlights. She narrowed her eyes, leveling each of the kids with hard looks.

"Spill," she used her loud voice. Or her mom voice. Over the years, the two had kind of fused together. "Now."

"William made me go back in time!" Mia blurted.

Since that was the _last_ thing Felicity was expecting to hear, she froze.

"I didn't _make_ you!" William argued, his jaw dropping.

"We went to 2014, and we stole files Grandma Moira kept about the Ninth Circle," Mia continued, the words falling out of her quickly. "And we hid in an alley. I saw dad ask you out for the first time. But Connor caught onto us. Or, onto William. Since this is all his fault. Not mine. But we needed to find evidence that linked the Ninth Circle with the Monitor. So we...we went back to find him."

Felicity had stopped breathing. She couldn't even blink as she stared at Mia, trying to make sense of the words. "You...you time traveled?"

"Yes," Mia groaned. "I know you said it was dangerous and I know I deserve any and all nagging. But mom...we need your help. I uh—I think we really screwed things up."

The silence lasted long minutes.

Eventually, Connor sighed, breaking it as he moved towards the closet. "Mrs. Smoak..." he met her eyes, holding the same gentle, authoritative calm that he must have learned from John Diggle himself. "Please don't freak out."

She wasn't sure if it was the look in his eyes or the unintended reminder that many people believed she was crazy, but Felicity simply nodded, crossing her arms over her chest slowly as she prepared for whatever trouble they'd caused.

Felicity steeled herself, lifting her chin and clenching her jaw when Connor put his hand on the closet doorknob.

As the door creaked opened, he revealed a man sitting on the floor with duct tape over his mouth and his wrists restrained in some kind of high-tech handcuffs. It only took Felicity a few seconds to recognize him. Then she sucked in a sharp breath of surprise.

He didn't look any older.

In fact, he looked exactly the same as he did the last time Felicity had seen him. His eyes were open, his head lifting to look up at her.

Felicity saw the same recognition on his face. And then Connor closed the door again.

Spinning around towards the three of them, Felicity shook off the shock that her children were officially time travelers, and her anger came out in spades. "What the hell have you done!?" She hissed at them, on the verge of dropping the 'mom tone' and just flat out using her loud voice.

"I told you we screwed up!" Mia whined back, wiggling a bit as she panicked. "Oh, god."

It made Felicity pause for a moment. Mia had become such a stoic person. Hardly anything fazed her. Seeing her daughter lose her cool, that collected presence, caught Felicity off guard. But then she joined Mia in the spiraling. "How did he get here!?"

They each shared a look, and then William spoke. "It's a long story. We ran into him in the past, he caught us, and we had no choice but to bring him here."

"No!" Felicity pointed a finger at him. "You always have a choice! And when the choice is between _bring people back to the future_ or _leave them in the past where they belong_...you always leave them! Always!"

"Fine!" William's voice raised with the same nervousness Felicity's held. "Well, what do we do now? We can't just drop him back where we found him. He's some asshat with a god-complex. He'll probably smite us all before we could even blink!"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Felicity pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to think. "Oh my god..."

As if in response, the closet door sounded with a dull thud, followed my a muffled voice. When they all stood silent, there was another thud.

Connor opened the door again, and the Monitor stared up at him calmly. Waiting.

Sighing, Connor leaned down and ripped the tape off his mouth. "Are you going to smite us all if we try to fix this?"

"No," he spoke slowly. "I actually want to help you." The sound of the Monitor's voice gave Felicity goosebumps, sending her right back to the day she'd last seen him. The day he'd taken her husband away.

"What are you talking about?" William asked. "You were working with the Ninth Circle in 2022. Why would you want to help us now?"

He smiled easily, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "My power allows me to see every outcome to the decisions in every universe—"

"Asshat," William muttered under his breath.

"But there are some who do not walk straight paths," the Monitor continued. "They are wildcards, and my job is to assess their threat to society." Looking up, the Monitor met Felicity's eyes. "That is why I needed your husband with me. He has magic in him. Darkness and lightness and every color in between. I did not know how he would affect the world. In order to avoid the unknown, I had to remove the risk factor. But now that you have changed what happened that day, you've rewritten destiny already. And I can see that this world is better with Oliver Queen in it." He nodded slowly, as if this was about deciding what shoes to wear in the morning rather than the choice that had changed her life for the last twenty years. "I have seen both options, and I am on your side. Oliver Queen belongs here. His legacy must live."

Leaning down, Connor stared at the Monitor, trying to analyze. "Just like that?" He growled the question, attempting to intimidate a man who seemed perfectly content to be kidnapped, restrained in power-dampening cuffs, and locked in a closet.

"Well," the Monitor shrugged, "I wouldn't say it's as simple as snapping my fingers and wiping out half the human population, but yes...just like that. Despite how I seem, I am no god—"

"Asshat," William chimed in again.

And the Monitor ignored him again. "I have powers that defy time and space, but I am not infallible." He nodded his head once, sure of his words. "Taking Oliver Queen that day was a mistake. Trusting the Ninth Circle when they warned me that he was a threat to this world...that was a bigger mistake."

"How are you so calm about all of this?" Mia mumbled, staring down at the man in slight horror, slight disbelief. "You act like it's no big deal."

"Oh, it is a big deal," the Monitor countered. "I simply see your interference for what it is. A correction. A risk that was taken and should be honored for the greater good."

Mia knelt down in front of the Monitor, her eyes wide, and sad, and innocent in their hope. She wanted to believe his words. She wanted to believe that it could all be fixed. "How do we make things right?" She whispered. "How do we set the timeline back the way it was meant to be before the Ninth Circle got to you?"

“We bring _him_ back where he belongs."

Connor inhaled sharply, "what about the rest of the world?"

"Yes, there will be consequences. As in every timeline, there are highs and lows. It is free-flowing. Good things happen in any version of reality...and so do bad things. That is the weight of my job. My focus is on maintaining structure and peace, making your worlds worthy. And I assure you, Oliver Queen never should have been taken from his earth. That was _my_ mistake. I overstepped in matters that I am only meant to guide. I let myself be manipulated...and you have given me a second chance to right that wrong."

Felicity's heart jumped into her throat, finally allowing herself to feel a moment of hope. "You're serious?"

With a small smile, the Monitor nodded. "He’s here...isn’t he? You brought Oliver to your home rather than let a time bomb run rampant in an unstable past.”

"Mia...” Felicity’s eyebrows furrowed, but her gaze remained on the Monitor. “He doesn't mean—he can't...?”

With a long sigh, Mia settled her hands on Felicity's shoulders. "We ran into Oliver in the woods...he caught us. Actually, he technically caught the Monitor. Oliver knocked him out, and he came back with us willingly." 

Blinking a few times, Felicity choked on the breath in her throat, realizing the piece of this puzzle that she'd been missing. The big, obvious piece. Her children traveled back in time. They brought the Monitor back. And the last time he'd been seen was when he was with her husband. Of course, where they'd found one...they'd found the other. They'd found Oliver.

"We didn't know what else to do with him," William helped explain. "With dad."

And then Connor chimed in, "leaving him there could've caused more damage. At least with us, he's still technically missing from 2022. We haven't altered the timeline too drastically. Yet..." he huffed, "or that we know of."

The three of them looked back at Felicity while her eyes shifted over each of their faces. "He's here?" She finally gasped, her voice sounding small and broken even to her own ears.

Mia bit her lip, nodding as she lifted her hand towards the back door. "I left him out on the porch...he knows you're here, but he agreed to wait so we didn't scare you, mom."

Sucking in a deep breath, Felicity felt oxygen fill her lungs quickly, making her a little lightheaded after barely breathing since the kids got home. Realizing that her husband was just on the other side of the door, her brain switched to autopilot. Her eyes landed on the window, her hands coming together so she could toy with the ring she still wore.

For her, it'd been twenty years.

For him, it'd been twenty minutes.

This was not going to be easy.

She knew that. Still, Felicity cleared her mind, not letting anything, especially herself, keep her from ruining this.

Felicity stepped towards the door, happy that no one tried to stop her or tell her that reuniting with Oliver would only mess everything up even more. Because it would. But that was exactly what the Monitor had said they needed to do. The world had pretty much gone to hell since Oliver and the others went missing. And Felicity was really sick and tired of sacrificing her life, her family, _herself_ , for a place that bred evil.

If the Monitor said they'd be better off with Oliver in their lives, that the whole _world_ would be better off...well, then...who was she to argue?

Stepping out onto the porch, the first thing Felicity noticed were the crickets. They were always the first thing she heard when the sun went down, no matter how used to them she'd grown over the last twenty years.

And then, on instinct, her eyes found Oliver.

He sat in one of the wooden rocking chairs on the porch, illuminated by the string of lights and the stars above their heads.

She'd never truly taken the time to appreciate Oliver in this place. Out of Star City. Somewhere safe and comfortable. He'd always said he wanted to grow old with her in this house.

Except, of course, he wasn't old.

Her husband was young as she remembered him, lacking in the wrinkles she now carried. His muscles were still gorgeous and rugged beneath his Henley shirt. His hair was short and graying, but he was as handsome as ever.

"Felicity?" Oliver whispered her name, his voice full of disbelief.

And she was suddenly feeling self conscious.

"Hi," she exhaled, the word barely heard over the crickets.

Oliver was just as she remembered him. But of course, she'd had twenty years without his face. He'd _just_ left her in 2022, at least that's how it would feel to him. Seeing her this old, this _different_ than the wife he knew...well, she imagined it was quite a shock.

Pulling at her shirt, Felicity nodded, stepping closer.

He stared up at her with wide eyes that she could no longer read. It'd been too long. The silence between them wasn't as comfortable as it used to be.

It was intense.

And it catapulted her right back to the babbling, skittish girl she was when she'd first met him. Nervous and unsure of herself. As much as she hated to admit it, she was feeling a little insecure.

Just like when he'd walked into her office at Queen Consolidated, Felicity couldn't help but be slightly in awe of his beauty. Somehow she could still see, she knew instinctively, that it was a stunning, powerful beauty that began somewhere inside of him and radiated out from his eyes. There was so much warmth there. And there was so much that had happened between them since that day. So many beautiful, heartbreaking moments. 

Yet, Felicity shuffled her feet, unable to stop herself from fidgeting with her hair, hoping she didn't look like a _complete_ mess.

Looking up at her, Oliver sat perfectly still, his expression unreadable as he took in the sight of her. She wondered if he was trying to reconcile the woman in front of him with the one he'd just said goodbye to. 

Finally, he sighed, his lips twitching as he tried to smile. Then, after long moments of him staring and her squirming, Oliver raised the book in his hand, gesturing to the seat beside him. And Felicity released her own breath she'd been holding, sinking slowly into the chair. She looked down at his hands, unable to meet his eyes in that moment. 

Without thinking, Felicity reached for the book, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Mia must have given it to him, nudged him out of the house with the distraction in an attempt to keep him occupied. But after being brought to the future by his time traveling children, and apparently knowing that his much-older wife was inside the house that had once been _theirs_ , she doubted that Oliver had been able to sit and read a single word of the book.

Her fingers grazed his as she took it, and she heard his breath catch in his throat. Felicity glanced up, patting her hand against the cover. "This is one of Mia's favorites..." she finally spoke.

He didn't break their eye contact, his head nodding slowly. "I read it when I was at Slabside."

Felicity nodded back, forcing a smile, attempting to ease both of their nerves in this impossible situation. "I remember," she whispered back.

After twenty years, she'd accepted her life without him. Her own loneliness.

Seeing him again, in this way, was as wonderful as it was unnerving. 

She finally tore her eyes away from his, needing a moment to breathe. To think.

Felicity looked down at his hands again, realizing that he was clutching something in his other fist. She frowned as she recognized the picture he held, the way he was gripping it between his fingers like he was holding on for dear life. "What's that?" She asked quietly, lifting her chin towards the photograph.

Oliver shifted it a little closer to his chest, making it clear that he had no intention of handing it over. But he did lift it up for her to see, his own eyes falling down to look at it again.

"I think Mia was using it as a bookmark," Oliver whispered, his lips curving in a shy smile. "You do that, too," he continued slowly, sounding a little breathless. "You say pictures make the best bookmarks." His eyes shifted to the trees, and then back to Felicity's face. "As soon as I saw her in the woods...I just had this feeling...she reminds me so much of you."

Letting out a small chuckle, Felicity glanced back at the photograph. It was of her and Mia, taken just a few weeks before her daughter had left home for Star City. They'd been curled up on the couch watching old movies, and she'd been trying to teach Mia how people took selfies back in _her_ day. Thankfully, Mia had printed out a good one to use as a bookmark. But Felicity knew that her phone was full of much goofier, less attractive options.

"Well," Felicity smiled at him, "she _is_ our daughter."

Oliver nodded, looking at the picture again. "As surreal as this is; hugging my three year old little girl one second and seeing her as a grown woman while she argued with William about time travel the next," he let out a breathless sound. "It feels...strangely right." Oliver looked up at her, tears in his eyes as his thumb grazed the picture, absently rubbing the place right over Mia's cheek. “She’s beautiful.”

"She is," Felicity blinked back tears of her own, her voice shaking at the power and emotion on her husband's face. 

Oliver's eyes met hers again, his head shaking slightly in disbelief. " _You're_ beautiful," he sighed, "I mean, if this is the future I have to look forward to," his eyes trailed down from her face, all the way to her feet and back up. "I'm one hell of a lucky man."

She knew that he was trying to make her smile. And she tried to laugh, but all that she could manage was a choked, sad little sob.

"Felicity..." Oliver stared into her eyes, so much regret and remorse in them already, even though to him, he'd barely been away from her for more than an hour. "I can't imagine what you've been through. I wish you never had to."

"Please don't," she clenched her jaw. "Please don't rip open old wounds."

He pinched his lips together, giving her a small nod. Although she knew that the wounds were still fresh to him.

"There's no point, Oliver. The Monitor wants to go back. He wants to fix it...seems to think you make the world a better place." Felicity lifted her shoulder, trying to joke, "finally, someone agrees with me."

His eyes widened, "the Monitor wants to change the timeline?"

"Yes."

Oliver sighed, his shoulders slumping. "He's giving us a second chance..." Staying quiet, Felicity glanced away, turning her eyes to the darkened treeline behind the yard. Part of her was waiting for him to disagree. To sacrifice himself again, to argue that changing the past was a terrible idea. Falling on his sword was an Oliver Queen classic, after all. Offering himself seemed to be his _preferred_  choice, rather than a last resort. Rather than finding another way. But instead of saying any of that, Oliver watched her carefully, his eyebrows furrowing while he searched for his next words. "I mean, unless that's not what you want. If you've—Mia made sure to remind me how much I've hurt you, and I understand that you may have, um, that it's possible you...moved on..."

Felicity bit her lip, shaking her head slowly as her hand instinctively reached for the ring on her finger. And Oliver's gaze followed the movement, his eyes darkening slightly when he realized she still had it on. That it was the ring he'd given her. That it was _his_.

"Honey," his voice was gentle yet gruff, everything Felicity had missed so much, been so desperate for at times. And her eyes slipped shut. "Is this not good news?"

"It is," she breathed. "Of course it is...it's just—I don't think it will be that easy. The Monitor changed his mind. But it doesn't change the choice you made, Oliver. And even after all these years, even though the idea of getting a reset is everything I've dreamed about...I just don't know if I can go back and pretend none of this happened."

He shook his head, "we won't pretend. We'll move forward, and we'll put our family first, and we won't take any of it for granted. _I_ won't."

Blinking, Felicity knew how much he meant it. He always meant it. But no matter how noble, he'd also left her more times than she was comfortable with. "I can't lose you again."

Oliver kept his eyes trained on hers as he nodded. He moved from his chair, abandoning the photo in favor of kneeling in front of her. His hands slid to her lap, his fingers intertwining with hers as if they'd never stopped. "You won't," he promised.

Felicity sucked in a sharp breath as he touched her. For the first time in twenty years, she felt like she could fully relax, like everything would be okay because he was here. He was _back_. 

"Hey," Oliver quietly captured her attention again, making her glance up from their hands to meet his eyes. And then he leaned in slowly, almost hesitantly.

She knew what he wanted, and she didn't dare stop him.

His lips touched hers in a chaste kiss. It was soft and earnest, and of course, just what she needed. Where his words might be hard to accept, the kiss held the truth that he wanted her to know. He loved her, just as he always had and always would. And he would always put his family first. Before everything.

In that kiss, Felicity understood everything that they both knew he couldn't express with words. That even if he tried to, would ultimately come up short after the choices he'd made. His words weren't enough.

So, he made her _feel_ it. Oliver gave Felicity a reason to hold on. He let her trust in that kiss and the promise it held.


	5. This is Home

_2022_

Waking up slowly, Oliver was aware of the lingering scent of lavender that he knew like the back of his hand. He blinked his eyes open, met with a familiar mess of blonde hair in his face and his nose nestled against the back of Felicity's neck. His eyes shifted around the room, recognizing their bedroom. And he kept his body perfectly still, not wanting to disturb the moment.

Their bedroom was exactly as they'd left it, the feel of his wife's bare legs tangled in his was no different than any other morning. Yet there was a deep sense of dread in his heart, a piece of him that ached as he instinctively pulled Felicity closer. He buried his nose back in her hair, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to fight it off.

In his arms, Felicity groaned, waking up as his hand gripped her hip. It only made him hold her tighter, not wanting to let go. With his chest flush against her back, he felt her stiffen, a tiny gasp heard through her groggy yawn. She turned slowly, her whole body shifting so she was facing him. And her wide eyes landed on his. Felicity blinked at him, her mouth dropping open in confused silence.

Oliver swallowed, his mind swirling with vague memories of things too hard to confront; distance, and emptiness like he'd never felt before, a lifetime apart. A knowledge that settled like a bad dream in his heart; twenty years spent alone, away from Felicity, Mia, and William, and everything he'd ever wanted. The feeling hit him like a truck.

But he knew, as the pieces came together, that it hadn't all been a dream. The monitor and their time-traveling kids flooded back into his memory. They'd changed all of it.

This was their second chance.

And the most important thing...they were okay.

"Felicity," he finally whispered her name. She was _here_. Oliver's hand moved up to her hair, gently pushing it away from her face so he could feel her skin under his fingers. He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip, remembering a hazy kiss in an unclear future, seeing his wife and the toll of twenty years without him.

"Was it real?" She asked.

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed, meeting her gaze. When he saw the tears in her eyes, he leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. "Yes..." he answered slowly, knowing she meant the _other_ place, the one he would never let happen. "But so is this."

She let out a sharp breath, her hands gripping the back of his neck as she pulled herself closer, crushing her lips against his. He kissed her back instantly, eagerly, with everything he felt for her; past, present, and future. It was all the same. The love he had for her had never wavered.

With a small whimper, Felicity slid her tongue against his, rolling onto her back and tugging him on top of her. And Oliver went willingly, feeling the familiarity of her as if he'd just kissed her the night before, and the distance as if it'd been _years_. He felt it all at once, his heart hammering in his chest because he needed to be closer. He needed to touch every inch of her. He needed to know that this was all stable. The house, their history and their future, the life that they finally had the chance to enjoy together...Oliver needed to know that none of it was going anywhere.

The same desperation Oliver felt was heard in his wife's next moan, her hands sliding to the waist of his boxers and pushing inside.

He groaned her name, settling between her legs happily.

"Don't leave," Felicity whispered into his mouth, the words barely audible.

Oliver paused, hearing the fear in her voice. It made him instinctively tighten his hold on her as he pulled back to look into her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised. "Not without you."

Felicity sighed, pushing her forehead to his. "I missed you so much...Oliver, I never—I never want to feel like that again."

His heart tightened in his chest as he answered with a confident, "you never will." And he made his own silent vows to never let it happen, to do everything in his power to prevent the glimpse of the future he'd seen where Felicity had to live without him, had to raise Mia without him.

Oliver made his peace with the fact that from now on, he would put his family above everything and everyone else.

She held onto him so tightly, her nails digging into his shoulders, but he didn't mind. Oliver just stared back at Felicity, watching her eyes search his as if she needed to be sure. Felicity slowly lifted her head, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. Then her lips moved down his jaw, her tongue exploring the skin of his neck, making his eyes roll closed. Felicity sucked on the spot just below his ear, leaving a mark, and it felt _so_ good...he couldn't focus on anything else.

"Daddy!" A loud, high-pitched voice broke through the bubble they were well on their way to creating.

Oliver's head snapped up as the bedroom door crashed open, revealing a toddler with a smile that was sweet as ever, a mess of hair and her pajamas on backwards. "Mommy!" Mia yelled, throwing her little arms in the air.

He had just enough time to ease off of Felicity. He squeezed her arm when he noticed that she was frozen on the bed below him. Oliver pulled the blanket up a little more to cover them both as Mia shuffled into the room.

Their daughter stretched, letting out a loud yawn. Then she stomped across the hardwood until she stood beside the bed, rubbing her eye tiredly. "Pancakes?" She squeaked.

Felicity made a squeaking noise too, her eyes wide as she stared back at the little girl.

Oliver gripped Felicity's hand, knowing how surreal it probably felt for her to see Mia like this all over again. It was surreal for him, too. But he wasn't the one who'd gotten to see her grow up. _This_ was how he had always pictured Mia. For Felicity...it was different. "Pancakes sound good," he spoke, glancing from Felicity and back to their daughter. "Why don't you go get dressed and we'll be out in just one minute."

Mia looked to her mother, crinkling her nose. "I think mommy needs coffee."

"Coffee sound good," Felicity finally breathed, still looking a little in awe as she glanced between Mia and Oliver.

Mia nodded seriously, heading back for the door. As she left, Oliver smiled, pressing a kiss to Felicity's forehead and mumbling, "everything's going to be okay, honey."

Hearing him, Mia turned in the doorway and set a hand on her hip. "'Course it's 'kay, daddy!" She answered loudly, rolling her eyes at him. "We have pancakes! Come on!"

 

_2023_

Every so often, Oliver would have a recurring dream. It was always the same, to the point where in the back of his mind, he knew he was asleep. As he looked out over a dark and foggy night, Oliver could recognize the familiarity of the dream, but it didn't stop his feet from moving in the direction they always would. A sense of dread filled him, being in that place and knowing what it meant.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from walking through the graveyard, following an unexplainable sense until he stood in front of a grave with his name on it.

It was like he was doomed to see the dream through; even when he knew what would happen. Whether he wanted to change the outcome of it or not, something deep down pushed him forward, convincing him that it was meant to happen this way.

With his head tilted down to the grave, Oliver watched his breath blowing out in front of him with a gush of cold air.

Seeing his name on the headstone next to the words 'The Green Arrow' was the most agonizing torture he could imagine. The grave and those words were his worst nightmares. It was a symbol of another life; a timeline that they had prevented. Yet it still haunted him and Felicity both, rearing its ugly head every now and then, a painful scar of what could have been. It all wrapped around his failure, reminding him of the mistakes he'd once made that caused his family so much pain. That had left Felicity alone. That had left Mia without a father. All because he'd chosen to be a hero above all else.

Oliver knew that outside of this dream, everything was different. Everyone he loved was happy and safe. _Out there_ , he was at peace.

But not _here_.

 _Here_ wasn't right. Here was _hell_.

Staring down at the grave always left Oliver falling down a dark, familiar path. There was a lot he blamed himself for. It was a part of him that he couldn't seem to change. But somewhere back at home, he had a wife and a daughter who adored him. And that was always, _always_ what helped him out of the nightmare.

The sound of distant thunder clapped over his head, and Oliver looked up at the sky just in time to see lightning strike through the clouds. He held his breath, listening to the thunder roll again, louder this time.

He knew what this storm meant, exactly what would come in with the rain.

And Oliver felt the first drops of it touch his face a moment later, followed by another round of thunder that shook the ground. Lightning burst through the sky again, making the graveyard bright as day for a brief moment, and then leaving him in the darkness.

As quickly as the thunder and lightning crashed, it subsided. Oliver tilted his head, glancing over his shoulder.

She walked towards him out of nowhere, with her hands in the pockets of her coat and her eyes trained on him. 

Releasing a heavy breath, Oliver moved towards her, his heart breaking for the hundredth time when he saw the tears in her eyes. This was always the same, too. He understood that it was real. In some glimpse of time, this moment _had_ happened. And that truth made ice run through his veins every time it hit him.

She was older in this place, as was he. And she in so much pain...but of course every bit as beautiful.

They'd dodged this reunion, but the penance for it seemed to be that Oliver had to relive it again and again whenever the nightmare came. 

"Felicity..." he sighed, holding his arms out for her. She crashed straight into them like the thunder, burying her face in his neck while her body shook. Oliver held onto her tightly, his hands moving up and down her back.

Leaning back from Felicity, Oliver held her face between his hands and looked down at her. She stared back at him with tears in her eyes, her bottom lip trembling. 

She was so different than the woman he knew, but he still had an image of her in his head from the night Mia and William had brought him to that terrible future. Felicity's eyes held so much heartbreak, an eerie sadness that had settled deep in the soul of this version of her. "I've been waiting a very long time to see you again," she whispered. "I promised I would find you."

It didn't matter that this version of his wife technically didn't exist anymore. It didn't matter that this was technically _his_ dream, either. Felicity didn't need to be told that they'd reversed those twenty years without each other. He'd tried that in previous experiences with the dream, and it never went well.

All Felicity needed was to know that he loved her and that he was _here_.

Oliver bit his lip, still having to fight the urge to tell her how different things were on the other side. How they'd fixed all of this and she didn't need to feel this way anymore. But he knew that it would only cause her more distress. The woman in front of him didn't need all of that. She needed her husband. She needed the reunion she'd been waiting twenty years to have. So instead, Oliver smiled gently. And he skimmed his thumbs across the tears on her cheeks, wiping them away. "Felicity," he mumbled her name again, leaning in to press his forehead to hers. "I've missed you so much."

Whenever their reunion went smoothly, he woke up from the dream quicker. As if fulfilling their destiny in the other timeline was what allowed him to get back to his own.

Blinking his eyes open now, Oliver found himself back in their bedroom  at the cabin. He could hear Felicity's soft snores as she slept behind him, her arm draped over his waist and her lips pressed against his bare back. His heart relaxed, knowing that the nightmare was over and everything was where it was meant to be.

Still, it had a habit of unsettling him, leaving an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach that made it hard to fall back asleep. It wasn't too often that he had the dream anymore, which meant that when he did, it really screwed with his head.

Oliver turned over to face Felicity, gently lifting her hand from his waist, careful not to disturb her. He laid still for a few minutes, staring at her peaceful face as she slept, letting it calm him down. Oliver brushed his fingers through her hair, smiling when she subconsciously nuzzled closer, leaning into his touch.

Usually it was enough just to watch his wife sleep. Most of the time, it would ease him back into his own, where he could have better dreams. But tonight felt different. He couldn't shake the anxiety in his chest. 

The feeling pushed him to get out of bed, and Oliver gave one more glance at his sleeping wife before he headed into the hallway.

Moving slowly through the house, he paused at the doorway of Mia's room, checking in on her, and then did the same at William's door. He saw that everyone was sleeping soundly; not a sound to disturb them, nothing there to make him feel so on edge.

All was well.

Right as it should be.

But the dream left Oliver feeling different. Rattled, as if he hadn't come back to his own skin just yet. He stopped in the kitchen for his phone, taking a moment to text John and Thea, simply asking them both how things were going. He didn't want to make his friend or his sister worry that something was wrong. And he knew that they wouldn't respond until morning anyway, but it made him feel a little better just to reach out to them.

Sighing, Oliver wandered to the bookcase in the living room, knowing that if he went back to bed, he'd only toss and turn until he woke Felicity up. And if he did that, she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep because she'd worry about him, and then she'd be having a 'three-cups-of-coffee before 7:00 AM' kind of day.

She really hated those days.

So, instead of playing with fire (also known as his wife without her rest), Oliver ran his fingers across the collection of books, most of which Felicity and William had read. 

He chuckled at the jumbled assortment; books shoved onto the shelves with no real order. Felicity had organized it when they'd first moved in, out of boredom one day before Mia had even arrived. And no one had bothered to do it again since. The books ranged from William's school reading list to Felicity's coding texts, with Mia's picture books mixed in wherever their daughter had wanted to stash them.

His hand grazed the spines, pausing on one that _felt_ familiar, before he'd even read the title. Oliver took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly as he pulled it from the corner of the top shelf. As much as _The Count of Monte Cristo_ had kept him sane in Slabside, Oliver was repulsed by the thing now. The tattered and ripped pages just reminded him of a time that was so much worse than his life now. There was no way the story would ease his mind now like it had before.

Slowly, Oliver went to put it back, his fingers flipping across the pages just as they'd done hundreds of times during his months in prison. After pushing it back into the corner, a piece of paper on the floor at Oliver's feet caught his attention, and he leaned down to pick it up.

Turning it over, he realized that it was a picture. It took him a moment to remember; a vague memory that he'd worked to moved past. but Oliver recognized _this_ Felicity instantly. He'd just seen the woman in his dream. And sitting beside her on the couch of the very room he stood in now, was a young girl with bright green eyes and curly blonde hair.

With tears springing to his eyes, Oliver couldn't stop himself from thinking the same thing he had once before; when he'd seen this girl in the forest after she'd traveled through time to save him. It was the first thing he saw when he looked at her. A perfect truth that she was his and Felicity's daughter. An uncanny blend between the two of them. It was an older version of the little girl still sound asleep in her princess bed down the hall.

_Their girl._

Oliver's breath caught in his throat as he put the pieces together. They were pieces he preferred to forget, but now they were right in his face. "Mia..." he breathed, his grip tightening on the picture.

He could still see the focused, tough girl he'd met in the woods who had traveled back in time with her brother. 

Whenever he thought of his daughter from that day, from the future, it made him feel sick to his stomach. She'd been so strong, but he hated that she'd had to be. He hated the world she'd lived in when he met that older Mia. _This_ Felicity.

Running his thumb over Mia's cheek, Oliver reveled in the smile on her face. It wasn't something he'd gotten to see for himself during their brief time together, but it was clear to him that Felicity brought out the best in Mia just as she did in him.

Felicity's bond with their daughter was one of his favorite things in the world. And it made Oliver feel whole to know that in any timeline, in any future, Mia and Felicity would always be there for each other.

And now, he got to be a part of it, too.

_2024_

With a sleeping baby in his arms, Oliver pushed his feet back and forth, rocking in the dark nursery. The soothing music, warm air, and gentle sway of the chair made it hard for him to keep his eyes open, especially since his son looked so peaceful in his sleep.

But Oliver wasn't ready to close his eyes. 

He blinked down at Lucas, wanting to watch him for a while longer.

In his heart, he knew that Lucas held a special kind of magic. He was the gift that neither he nor Felicity had ever dreamed of getting.

After the Monitor corrected the timeline, they knew they had a second chance to live their lives together the right way. They'd been prepared to make their relationship better than it'd ever been, to right things with William, and to give Mia a home where she was safe and happy. Even though the memories of their other life had faded and healed, it would always be there. It would always make them appreciate every moment they had together. With time, it all had become less of a burden and more of a reminder, less of an obstacle and more of an old scar.

Since the moment they woke up in their bed together two years ago, Oliver and Felicity had been working on making things right, rebuilding what had been broken, and spending a lot of time reconnecting. 

They'd been so focused on fixing the things they knew could go wrong; like William never hearing from them again, or Mia growing up without her father...that they hadn't exactly been paying much attention to the _new_ things that could happen. Of course there would be some unknowns. But in the back of each of their minds...Oliver and Felicity had just kind of thought...that their family was complete. The two of them and their two children.

But then they'd been blindsided with the news that Felicity was pregnant again.

Well, not _completely_ blindsided, of course. Oliver had a pretty good idea of how it had happened. Or at least he had his top three ideas of _when_ _exactly_ he'd gotten Felicity pregnant...

Since they weren't planning for Lucas any more than they'd been planning for Mia, there had been a little bit of shock when Felicity recognized the signs. It wore off quickly though, and they both happily accepted her doctor's confirmation that they were indeed having a second baby. Neither of them could stop grinning that whole day.

Rocking in the chair now, between the sounds of crickets chirping outside the window and tiny snores coming from his son, Oliver still couldn't stop grinning. He could hear Felicity and Mia down the hall, singing an off-key yet adorable duet of 'Part of Your World' while Mia had a bath. William was at a movie with his friends from school and had a 9:00 PM curfew, which he never pushed. They had plans to call Thea after dinner, who had promised Mia some bedtime stories via long-distance video chat. Not to mention, Felicity had been teasing him all day...apparently just because she felt like it today. And Oliver was already looking forward to teasing her right back...but he was saving his retaliation until  _later_. 

Everything just felt complete.

Moments like this were when Oliver felt like he really understood the reasons he'd had to go through all his suffering.

This was the life he was always meant to live.

 _This_ was the place.

"This is home," he whispered to himself, glancing down at Lucas. The baby's lips twitched into a smile at the sound of his voice, and Oliver sighed happily. "You like it here, huh?" He whispered, giving the sleeping baby a nod of agreement. "Me too, buddy."

Oliver knew that he wouldn't have appreciated these moments like they deserved to be appreciated, if not for the pain of his past. If not for the lessons he'd learned along the way, all leading him _here_. Leading him home.

Despite all the noise, Oliver still somehow heard it when the porch creaked on the other side of the window.

His eyes flew towards the faint sound, thankful that they hadn't turned the porch light off for the night yet. He stopped rocking, sitting perfectly still as he watched a shadow pass slowly across the window.

Oliver moved to his feet, silently making his way towards the bathroom with Lucas in his arms. It was way too early for William to be home, and Oliver's instincts kicked in. Quickly, he pushed through the door, holding his finger up to his mouth in a small warning for Felicity and Mia to keep quiet. His wife had her arms out as she sang, but her soapy hands fell to her sides, and the smile faded from her lips after one look at him.

He gently placed Lucas on her lap, not needing to say anything else as he made his way back out into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Moving down the hallway slowly, Oliver stopped in the kitchen. Finally, knowing that his family was safe, he took a breath. And he listened.

It was the best vantage point in the house, giving him a view of almost everything on the first floor, especially the windows that gave him eyes on the front and back yard, and the porch where he knew he'd seen _something_.

With his body still angled towards the hallway, he couldn't help but glance back at that damn bathroom door. Everyone that mattered most to him was hidden and probably terrified, and it made Oliver fall back on instincts he hadn't felt in years. The kind that made him certain he'd kill anyone or anything that threatened his family.

Oliver reached behind him to grab a knife off the counter. Then he tilted his head towards the front door, then towards the back, listening for any indication that someone might be trying to pick the lock or open a window.

Felicity had worked with A.R.G.U.S to rig their house with the best alarm systems in the world. And he had put all his trust in Felicity Smoak a long time ago, but he would also be a fool to rely on technology rather than his gut. And that gut was screaming at him that someone was out there.

The floors in the house were old, so Oliver noticed when it creaked again. But this time, the sound wasn't from the porch.

It was _inside_.

Oliver spun on his heel, holding the knife in a clenched fist and drawing it straight to the neck of whoever _dared_ come to their home uninvited.

"Hey," a pair of familiar, red gloved hands covered his, lowering the knife. "Oliver, it's me."

Blinking, Oliver felt a slight knot twist in his stomach. "Barry?" 

It wasn't that the sight of his friend was unwelcome, necessarily...but the sneaking into their home without calling, in full Flash costume, probably wasn't a good sign.

"We need your help," Barry answered lowly, taking the knife from Oliver's frozen hand and setting it on the counter. "I know what the Monitor did for you and Felicity...I saw the other timeline, the one where you were gone. The one you guys _changed_ , Oliver."

His back stiffened, but Oliver gave nothing away. He and Felicity were finally good. The secret was a heavy one to carry, but it was his and Felicity's to share. And they'd worked through all of that and come out stronger. Their family was better for it, which was the only thing that mattered to him. But of course it helped to remember that according to the Monitor, the _world_ was better off with him in it, too.

"Why would you go there?" Oliver growled. He knew that somewhere, the terrible timeline still existed in the universe. Or at least pieces of it. And it didn't surprise him at all that Barry was messing with these things again. "Barry, I'm warning you...you need to leave this one alone. The Monitor assured us—"

Barry sighed, interrupting him, and Oliver couldn't help but glare. Barry shook his head, and Oliver couldn't help but glare harder. The kid never seemed capable of leaving time alone. Or learning his lesson, it seemed.

"The war between the worlds is still happening, Oliver," Barry explained. "You bought us a couple of years when you corrected the timeline, but this crisis happens in every possibility of the universe. I've tried to find a loophole, but it's a fixed event. It's unavoidable. It's... _destiny_."

Oliver was already shaking his head before Barry had finished talking. "My only destiny is right here."

"I'm sorry, Ollie..." Barry said sympathetically, "but you have to come with me. The world literally depends on it."

"No," Oliver choked on the word. His memories of the other side were foggy now, but he would never forget how this proposition went. He leaves to help in this war, he won't ever come home. "If I go with you...I die in that fight."

Barry shook his head quickly, "I know what you did for me and Kara, Oliver. I know about the deal you made, and I'm not asking you to do it again now. We just need your help. I promise you, it's not going to come to you _dying_. Not this time. Not here."

Oliver's hands gripped the kitchen counter in front of him, his eyes murderous as he looked back at Barry, "I hung up the hood."

Sighing, Barry nodded, "I know. But we really need the Green Arrow's help on this one, Ollie."

Just over Barry's shoulder, Oliver caught sight of the bathroom door opening and Felicity's head peeking out. His whole body stiffened, but he raised a shaking hand to wave, "it's okay, Felicity," Oliver mumbled. "You can come out."

Barry winced apologetically as Felicity carried a still-sleeping Lucas in one arm, her other hand tightly holding Mia's. The speedster dropped to one knee as Mia glanced around the room. "Hey little rocket," he greeted her.

Mia's eyes lit up at the sight of Barry, and she let go of Felicity's hand, rushing across the kitchen to throw herself into her second favorite superhero's arms. Felicity was her first, of course. Oliver knew he came in third.

"Oliver," Felicity moved to stand beside him, adjusting Lucas so she could hold him with both arms. "What's going on?" Her eyebrows furrowed, "I mean, not that it's not nice to see you, Barry. Hello."

After giving Mia a high five and a wide grin, Barry stood up. "Hey, Felicity...It's been too long."

"Right," Felicity pinched her lips together, glancing between her husband and their surprise guest. "Which leads me to...what's going on?" Her eyes narrowed as she waited for an answer, shifting between Oliver and Barry. "I don't care who talks first, but someone better start talking."

Of course, Barry cracked first. "Cisco has been sensing tremors in the universe structure for a few days now...we're lucky we figured it out when we did."

Knowing Felicity better than he knew himself most of the time, Oliver could see the tension that instantly coiled in his wife's body; the way she was holding her breath as she asked, "what does that mean? Tremors in the universe?"

"It means the fabric that separates each earth...it's weakening. It happened once before, but as far as I know...you and Oliver are the only ones who remember it."

Felicity's eyes widened, flying to Oliver. "Crisis?"

Closing the distance, Oliver put his hands on Felicity's hips and pulled her close. He hated the look on her face. The terror.

Sliding his fingers up to her cheeks, Oliver did his best to soothe her. "The Monitor never promised that the war wouldn't happen," he spoke calmly, "but he did say that it's important for me to be _here_. For me to live."

"Look..." Barry took a step away from Mia, watching as she followed him, distractedly analyzing the leg of his suit. "I don't know how all of this is going to go down, Felicity. But I'll make sure Oliver makes it home. Whatever it takes."

Oliver's fingers tightened in her hair as Felicity let out a sharp breath, her hands gripping his shirt. "This can't be happening again."

"I promised you I would never make the same mistake, Felicity." He ran his thumbs across her cheeks, making sure she was hearing him. "I _will_ come home to you."

Her eyes snapped up to his, angry tears filling her eyes. "What!?" She gasped. "That's it, then? Barry's here for two seconds and you've already decided to leave me again? To leave _us_?"

Oliver shook his head frantically, pulling her closer until he was cradling her head against his chest, his hand cupping the back of her head, "hey, hey, hey..." He mumbled, his eyes darting up to Barry, who got the message and took Mia's hand, leading her back towards her bedroom with the promise of a good bedtime story.

"My aunt Thea was going to tell me stories tonight," Mia squeaked as she trailed along at his side.

Scoffing, Barry brushed it off, "I bet my stories are _way_ cooler," he challenged.

Oliver waited until they turned the corner, and then he refocused on his wife. "Barry said we have time," he offered hesitantly. "Whether I fight in this thing or not...we don't have to make that decision right now. Not tonight. We can _talk about this_ , Felicity. This isn't going to be like...like _before_."

"Isn't it?" Felicity whimpered, winding her arms around his waist. She held on tightly, burying her face in his neck as if she was afraid to let him go. "Because I thought I was starting to forget what that heartbreak felt like...but now I remember it pretty clearly."

Leaning back, Oliver looked down into her eyes, smoothing her hair back from her face and trying to smile. "This is your choice, Felicity. If you think I should go help Barry, then I will. If you need me to stay here, then I will. I've made enough of these decisions on my own, and they were all mistakes because I didn't tell you. So, I'll do whatever you want, okay? And I will fully support whatever you think is best for us. For you, and me, and the kids. That's all I need, Felicity. I just need you."

Taking in his words, Felicity's shoulders deflated. "I never wanted it to be up to me, Oliver. I needed you to make those decisions _with_ me."

He nodded back slowly, "you're right. So that's what we'll do, then. Together."

"Together..." she whispered back, hugging him closer.

_2025_

For some reason, Oliver never failed to wake up if Felicity was gone from their bed for too long. It was like his subconscious somehow knew that she wasn't there, no matter how deep his sleep was. 

His eyes opened slowly, blinking at the window as he woke up enough to see that it was still dark. A thick, summer breeze came in through the curtains, but the room felt a little colder. Oliver recognized instantly that Felicity was the missing piece. He turned over, glancing at the bathroom door first, and then he noticed that she'd left the door to their bedroom open just a crack. The sheets on her side were cold, telling him that she'd been up for a while.

Oliver frowned, stretching as he got out of bed to find her.

It wasn't uncommon for her to wake up in the night. She had fears and demons of her own that sometimes crept into her dreams. Oliver had learned years ago that most of the time, his wife just needed some time to herself, and then she would come back to bed. And she would always talk to him; either when she returned or in the morning.

But after the Crisis, as they'd all come to call it, Felicity's nightmares grew worse. It didn't help that the Monitor had told Felicity that Mia was "important" to the world. Felicity wanted their daughter to have a normal life, out of the world of superheroes and vigilantes.

The Monitor had practically warned Felicity that they needed to start preparing Mia for more.

_Their seven year old._

Of course, it settled like a rock in Oliver's soul, too.

He found Felicity in the nursery, sitting in the chair facing the window, her back to him. "Hey," Oliver said quietly, careful not to startle her or to wake up Lucas. If he opened his eyes and saw them in his room, he'd make a fuss until one of them picked him up. "Are you okay?"

Stepping up behind her, Oliver ran his hand across her back, brushing her hair back so he could gently massage her shoulder. As he looked down at Felicity, he noticed the photo in her hands. The one of their _teenage_ Mia and an older Felicity. Somehow, the picture had miraculously slipped through the cracks of the other timeline, and Oliver wasn't sure how it existed in their new reality. Or why he hadn't destroyed it when he'd found it last year. Or how Felicity had found it.

Oliver's breath caught in his throat at the out-of-place photograph, a gentle choking noise passing his lips. Felicity tilted her head to look up at him while Oliver's hand paused on her shoulder. At this point, he knew better than to lie to Felicity. His wife was patient and forgiving, but he had also learned some things over the years. Oliver made it a habit not to keep secrets from her.

The photograph was his one.

No matter how well he knew Felicity, he truly had no idea how she would react to the picture. She was trying so hard not to let herself get stuck in the other timeline, to let it all go and live in their reality, to be present with Mia and Lucas rather than worrying about the past. Oliver just couldn't be sure if the snapshot would be welcomed or not. And he wasn't about to risk everything Felicity had done to move forward.

"So," Felicity breathed, pressing the picture against her chest. "I'm guessing you've seen this before."

In truth, he'd done his best not to pull the picture out from the book where he still kept it hidden. But there were rare nights when he wanted to see it, to see how beautiful his wife would be years from now. And how lively their future was going to be as they raised Mia. "Yes," Oliver sighed. He knelt down in front of Felicity, letting his hands cover hers over the picture. "I found it about a year ago. I don't know how it got there..."

"It's weird to see myself like this," she mused. "Kind of Twilight Zone-ish."

Oliver squeezed her hands, "I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it."

"Every day that passes...the memories I have of this Mia fade. It's almost like I miss her...even though I know she's asleep in the next room."

"You'll know Mia like that again." 

Felicity smiled sadly, "I know. And it'll be even better. She'll be so much happier. She won't have to constantly look over her shoulder for threats. She'll have you. She'll have _us_. It's just...sometimes I wish I could talk to her again, _this_ her...you know?"

"She's still here," He nudged her. "And she'll be okay," Oliver promised, leaning in to kiss her fingers. Felicity titled her face towards him.

"How are you so sure?"

Oliver shrugged, "you said it yourself. She has me. She has you. She has a whole family of superheroes to help her along the way. Just because Mia is important to the world doesn't mean she won't be safe in it. We'll make sure that she is. We'll all protect her." He smiled as he watched the wheels turning in his wife's head. Felicity had needed to digest the Monitor's prophecy, time to process it all. "Felicity, whatever Mia goes through...whether it's a boy breaking her heart or the weight of the world, she'll have _us_."

Felicity's eyes softened as she stared down at him, "I love when you're the one giving _me_ all that sage wisdom."

He grinned, nipping at the tip of her index finger in response to her teasing, and getting the smile from her that he'd been hoping for. "I'm just saying...when it comes to you and me," Oliver looked up at her with nothing but honesty, "I have all the faith in the universe. We're so much bigger than that, anyway."

"Well," Felicity leaned forward, pressing her forehead to his as she whispered, "we _have_ been through a lot together."

With a snort of agreement, Oliver nodded. "I know I must really love you, because I'd spend the rest of my life fighting Mirakuru soldiers, enduring exploding islands, or even body swapping with Barry as long as I get to do it all with you."

Felicity rolled her eyes at his sappiness, "I want that written on my next Birthday card, okay?" Oliver chuckled in response, and she rubbed her nose against his. "Trust me...I am _not_ trying to rush these years."

"Let's enjoy them, then," Oliver answered lowly, his gaze dropping to her lips.

"Oh," Felicity inched closer, her fingers knotting in his hair. The picture fell to the floor by his knee. "I think our second 'surprise' kid proves that we're enjoying these years _plenty_." She mumbled back, her breath on his skin making him shiver.

He bit his lip. "There's always room for more...enjoyment."

Felicity leaned back, her mouth opening and closing in surprise at his insinuation. She narrowed her eyes at him, but it was playful, which _slightly_ helped to settle his hammering heart. "Oliver Queen," Felicity breathed, staring up at him. "Are you really suggesting a _third_ right now?"

He shrugged noncommittally, winking at her as he answered, "I'm just saying that maybe we should have at least one baby we fully intended on making."

"That one isn't even walking yet," she reminded him, pointing to the crib where Lucas slept.

Oliver jested a defensive finger, "hey...don't bring Lucas into this...he'll have that walking thing down any day now, and then you know we won't be able to stop him."

Felicity raised an eyebrow as if he'd made her point for her. "And that says to you, 'perfect time for another one?'"

"Are you opposed...to that idea, I mean?" He whispered, trying not to sound disappointed. 

Her mouth opened again, then closed again. And Oliver already had his answer. He had it every day of their life, if he was being honest. Even if she was giving him a hard time. "No, I'm not opposed," Felicity finally whispered. "This is home. Why not make it a little bigger?"

His smile spread, his fingers moving to her thighs where he pulled her closer. Oliver's mouth closed on hers, taking his time to appreciate the perfect shape of her lips as he hummed. 

There was a time when the simple thought of kissing the same girl twice had bored Oliver to tears. Now here he was; asking his wife to have more babies with him and never wanting to kiss anyone else. 

It still blew his mind how far he'd come.

"What's so funny?" Felicity whispered, not bothering to pull away when she felt his smile against her mouth.

He shook his head, bowing his head to catch her bottom lip with his next kiss.

Just as they were getting carried away, as in Oliver had picked Felicity up to carry her back to the bedroom, they heard Mia cry out from down the hall. The sharp sound filled the house, and Felicity pulled back, clutching Oliver's shirt as he froze. "Nightmare?" He whispered, his eyebrows furrowing.

Felicity cocked her head to the side, listening for more.

"Daddy!" Mia wailed now.

The plea had Oliver moving immediately, not even taking the time to set Felicity back on her feet as he headed out of their son's room and towards their daughter's. 

Reaching the doorway, they both peeked in at Mia. She tossed and turned in bed; a nightmare, sure enough. Oliver moved into the room, pausing by the lamp and Felicity wordlessly turned it on. Then he set Felicity down at the end of Mia's bed. "Mia," he said, giving her a small shake as he sat down beside Felicity. "Honey, wake up. You're okay."

Felicity talked her out of the nightmare too, rubbing her hand over Mia's leg.

After a few moments, their daughter's eyes snapped open, darting between the two of them. Her lip trembled, sniffling as she sat up. Oliver felt his heart clenching in his chest, and he brushed Mia's hair back. "It's okay, baby," he soothed. "It was just a dream."

"It wasn't a dream, dad," Mia croaked. "He was here and he wanted to take you, and mommy didn't want you to go and she cried and cried and cried!"

Blinking, Oliver sucked in a breath. "Mia, everything's okay now, remember? Barry needed my help, but everyone is safe now." He assured her, pressing his palm to her cheek, trying to ground her back to reality. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." 

Mia shook her head as if he didn't understand. "Not Barry!" She stressed, her wide eyes swinging between her parents' faces. "The man in the cape."                         

_2040_

"Mia, how's school going?"

With her eyes widening, Mia swallowed her bite of broccoli and glanced up from the spot of grass under her feet she'd been intently staring at. She cleared her throat before answering, "Good. Great. I really like Star City."

From across the table, Lyla smiled, nodding politely while she looked around the yard. Mia bit her lip, knowing that her insanely intuitive family could sense her discomfort. 

She was home on break during her senior year of college. She'd been prepared to handle her mother's prying and to dodge her father's line of questioning. She'd even come home ready to redirect her nosy little sister.

What she was not prepared for though, was a surprise dinner with the whole Diggle family.

Just as it'd been for the last hour, Mia couldn't stop herself from looking in Connor's direction, and then of course, quickly glancing away before anyone noticed.

Growing up, she'd always had a crush on him. But it wasn't until he'd come to Star City for work last year, and asked her out to dinner so they could catch up, that things had changed.

"Mia's been seeing someone," her little sister spoke up, breaking the awkward silence as she set her glass of water back on the table. Mia fumbled with her fork, catching it before it crashed down on her plate.

"Lydia," Mia hushed her, giving her sister a harsh look.

From his seat between Felicity and Mia, Oliver shifted uncomfortably, the scowl on his lips deepening. He frowned, turning to Lydia for an answer, "she is?"

Looking like the pain in the ass all little sisters were, Lydia grinned smugly. "I heard her on the phone last night...talking to a _boy_."

"A boy?" Oliver frowned more, looking to his wife for help now. In response, Felicity just patted his knee.

"Yup," Lydia popped her 'P', crossing her arms while Mia squirmed.

Coming to her rescue, Felicity warned her youngest with a sharp mom-look. "That's enough, Lydia. If your sister wants to date in college, then she has every right to. She's surely old enough now that she doesn't need to tell us about it...as long as it's nothing serious." Felicity's eyes widened, her head snapping to Mia. "Wait. You're using protection, right?"

"Woah!" Oliver winced at the same time Mia groaned.

"Oh my god, why do I come home?" Mia mumbled to herself, feeling more like the fourteen year old in that moment than Lydia. 

She was already blushing hard, and her face only got more red when her mother leaned across her father's lap to pat Mia on the knee. "I understand why you wouldn't want to tell dad," she stage-whispered. "But could have told _me_ , honey!"

"Oh sure," John jumped in. "So Oliver here could find out on his own and put a few arrows in the kid two days later?"

From down the table, Connor choked on his water. And Mia was far too embarrassed to even look his way.

"Oh my god," Mia complained again, fidgeting some more. She stood up from the table, pushing her chair back with a little more force than necessary. "Are you finished with this?" She asked her dad, rushing to take his fork just as he was taking a bite of his chicken. Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but Mia was already stacking the plates and preparing for her escape. "Great dinner, dad. Good job," she moved away from the table, heading inside where it was safe and no one could stare her down with their ex-vigilante eyes. "I'll get the dishes started."

Thank god for William, who distracted the others by asking Dig about his business. Mia gave him an appreciative look and a soundless 'thank you' over their heads as she retreated towards the house. Her older brother was the only one who knew about her relationship with Connor, and only because she'd drunkenly called him one night after a fight to vent.

Mia had almost made it all the way to the door before she heard Connor's voice calling after her. 

"Hey, wait up! I'll help you with those." His chair scraped against the concrete patio and Mia turned, plastering on a smile but her back stiffened. Connor was already halfway across the yard, dishes in both of his hands.

With her heart in her throat, Mia tried not to be weird. But it was moments like this when she realized how _not funny_ Oliver's stories about Felicity babbling were. It was moments like this where she found herself painfully _relating_ to her mother's awkward and anxious energy. "Oh," she nodded quickly, "y—yeah, sure! Thanks."

He followed her into the house, and Mia could actually _feel_ her father’s eyes on her back. She turned around to shoot him a glare, and Oliver raised his hands in surrender, his face smoothing into a composed, innocent expression. Then he leaned back in his chair, casually wrapping an arm around Felicity’s shoulders.

Leading Connor into the kitchen, Mia put the dishes on the counter, rolled up her sleeves, and turned the sink on. Then she cleared the plates, putting them into the sink that was filling with soap and water.

She couldn’t even look at Connor. 

It was her idea not to tell their parents about their budding relationship, not until they knew it was serious.

But then it had gotten serious. And she’d told him that they needed to wait until the time was right. 

He wasn’t _completely_ to blame for this dinner party from hell, but still...

"Are you angry with me?" Connor asked, stepping beside her at the sink and reaching for the handful of forks she was holding to put them in the sink. 

Mia sighed, her eyes lifting to the window where JJ was poking at Lucas, egging him on for a sparring match on the grass. "You should have told me you and your family were coming tonight."

"I know, I’m sorry," Connor answered quickly. "Your mom said they wanted to surprise you, Lucas, and Lydia. And you know, you've been so busy with finals and I've been busy helping dad with orientation. It's been almost a month since we saw each other and I just kind of thought...I mean, I thought you would happy to see me?"

Her eyes shifted up to his, seeing doubt in his expression that made her feel a little guilty. And she relaxed, realizing that maybe she'd overreacted a little. "I _am_ happy to see you," Mia whispered, smiling up at him gently.

"Mmm," Connor grinned back playfully. "That might be the first smile I’ve seen from you all night."

"Don’t tease," she warned, poking a soapy finger to his chest.

The sound of a throat clearing behind them made Mia flinch, gasping as she quickly stepped back from Connor.

In the doorway, John stood watching them for god knew how long...his arms crossed and an expression on his face that said it might've been _a while_.

"Oh, this takes me right back to the bunker days," the older man sighed. 

Ignoring the comment, Mia cleared her throat. "Do you need anything, Dig?"

"No thanks, sweetheart," he shrugged, his suspicious gaze shifting to his son. "Lyla and I were going to take the kids out to grab some ice cream. Connor, you mind riding with Will?"

Pressing his lips together, Connor avoided his father's stare, and Mia really wished the poor man had a better poker face. "Nah, I’ll hang back and help Mia finish these." The words were innocent enough, but the way he said them made it sound like they'd be up to no good. Mia shot him another glare as Diggle grumbled something under his breath and rolled his eyes.

John made a dissatisfied noise. "Mia, you want to come along? I'm sure my son can handle dish duty on his own."

She shook her head in response. "The end of the semester has involved a lot of stress eating mint chip for this girl," she sighed, glancing away quickly when she noticed the adoring smirk on Connor's face. "Uh, I’m all set. Thank you though."

"Twenty minutes," Dig's voice was full of warning, his attention focused on Connor as if to say _don't do anything stupid_. "We’ll be back in twenty minutes." His eyes narrowed slightly, "maybe fifteen."

And once again, Mia was blushing.

"Okay," she squeaked. "See you in a few."

"Uh huh," Dig replied, moving slowly out of the kitchen. Once the door was closed behind him, silence filled the room while they watched John head back outside, rounding up the kids and herding everyone towards the cars parked out front.

Mia sighed, her eyes fixed on her parents who still sat at the table in the yard, apparently deciding to skip the ice cream trip, too. She watched as her father leaned back in his chair, draping an arm around her mother's chair. Then he leaned in to whisper something in her ear, and a smile spread across Felicity's face, inspiring one on Oliver's.

Without even realize it, Mia was grinning. It wasn't until Connor nudged his shoulder against hers that she noticed. "I think we should tell them," he tread carefully.

Nodding, Mia's shoulders slumped. "I suppose it's about time. We both know our parents aren't exactly thickheaded. I'm sure they must have an idea by now..."

Connor hesitated before answering, "I'm sorry if I rushed you."

"No," she whispered, her eyes moving back to her parents, seeing Oliver stand up from his chair and offer his hands to Felicity. "You were right. I've been stalling because I was scared." Mia sighed, "but there's nothing to be afraid of. My parents adore you."

He grinned at that, turning to look at the couple outside, too. They watched through the window as Oliver slowly led Felicity out onto the grass and pulled her into his arms. And Felicity giggled, going willingly, only pausing long enough to kick off her shoes. Then she held onto him tightly, burying her head on his chest and closing her eyes. 

Hugging her back, Oliver kissed the top of his wife's head. He swayed with her in a relaxed, somewhat awkward but completely _them_ slow dance, letting the music from the radio on the porch guide them. Even though the music didn't quite fit his rhythm, Felicity didn't seem to mind.

"I get it, you know," Connor spoke, raising his chin towards her parents before looking back at Mia. "There's a lot to live up to, being raised by Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. You just want to make sure this thing between us is real."

Growing up, her parents were the best love story she'd ever heard. Her favorite fairy tale. _The Adventures of Green Arrow and Overwatch_ had always been the bedtime stories she'd wanted to hear. And deep down, she'd always wanted to find someone as accepting and wonderfully suited for her like her mother was for her father.

"My parents weren't perfect," Mia answered instinctively, remembering the countless times her mother had had to remind her of that, since she'd always seen them that way.

She understood now what she hadn't as a little girl; that real love was hard work, and sacrifice, and not always agreeing.

Oliver and Felicity had always made sure she knew not to settle, not to chase after some _thing_  she wanted as opposed to some _one_ she loved. She'd learned that lesson and made peace with it years ago. So when things began to change between her and Connor, their feelings evolving so naturally that nothing else made sense, Mia had known in her bones that it was right. It _felt_ right.

"Maybe not," Connor leaned closer, taking her attention away from her parents who danced together as effortlessly and comfortably as they always had. "But you have to admit, they're pretty damn epic."

Mia smirked, resting her wet hands on the counter so she could lean up and reach Connor's lips. "So are we," she mumbled before kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like this is the future we all deserve. And this chapter was therapeutic to write after Arrow’s finale crushed my heart a little bit.  
> Thank you all so much for reading and leaving kind comments, I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think! 💚😊


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